October 2012

An assessment of available lands for biofuels production in the United States using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) cropland data layers

Recent biofuels regulations and supporting land use models assess the use of sensitive and high carbon lands for biofuels production. However, the precautionary land use limits set by these efforts ignore the large available lands in the United States. Using 2010 United States Department of Agriculture Cropland Data Layers, this study assessed current and available lands in the continental United States at different...

Author(s): Steffen Mueller, Ken Copenhaver and Dan Begert

October 2012

Training needs assessment of mid-career agricultural extension officers: Evidences from Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension education (SAFE) intervention in North-east Nigeria

The primary objective of this paper is to assess the stakeholders’ needs for mid-career agricultural extension training programmes in North-east Nigeria taking cognizance of the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension education (SAFE) intervention in the region and beyond. The major source of data was a survey of agriculture-related private and public agricultural extension organisations in the six states that...

Author(s): M. R. Ja’afar-Furo, J. S. Neils, D. I. Mojaba, A. Sulaiman and J. D. Shall

October 2012

Analysis of gender and poverty effects on loan defaults rate among arable crop farmers in Rivers State, Nigeria

This study assessed possible differences in access to loans across gender lines and determined the factors influencing their repayment capacities among arable crop farmers in Rivers State. A stratified random sampling technique was employed to select 120 farmers who supplied data via a set of structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Tobit model was used to analyze the data gathered from the field. It was...

Author(s): Onoja Anthony O. and Emodi A. I.