FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE

This study examined the value chain addition of Parkia biglobosa (African locust bean) in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, with emphasis on its processing, packaging, transportation, profitability, and contribution to livelihoods. A total of 120 respondents, comprising traders and processors, were randomly and purposively selected from eight major markets across two Local Government Areas (Oredo and Egor) namely Ekiosa, Oba, Agbado, New Benin, Uwelu, Uselu, Oliha, and Ogida. Primary data were obtained through structured questionnaires and interviews, while secondary data were sourced from relevant literature. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, and simple cost and return methods. Findings revealed that 97.5% of respondents were female, with the majority (75%) having at least secondary education and over 13 years of experience in the trade. The most preferred product was the fermented locust bean (iru), processed using traditional methods. Gross margin analysis indicated that processed products were significantly more profitable than raw seeds, yielding a net return of ₦3,004.11 per kg compared to ₦786.79 per kg from raw seeds. This translates to a profit margin of 52.3% for processed products and 47.7% for raw seeds, underscoring the economic advantage of value addition. However, the study identified major challenges such as inadequate transportation (mean = 3.22), high market levies (3.51), poor access to ready markets (3.11), and limited awareness of value-added opportunities (3.41). Despite these constraints, Parkia biglobosa remains a vital source of livelihood and nutrition, particularly due to its rich vitamin A content, which supports eye health and general wellbeing. The study concludes that improving processing efficiency, adopting modern packaging techniques, and strengthening distribution channels will significantly enhance the profitability and competitiveness of Parkia biglobosa. It recommends entrepreneurial investment in branding, cooperative marketing, and value-added innovations such as powdered iru or ready-to-use condiments, which will boost income generation and promote the wider use of this indigenous, health-enhancing product

Dialium guineense fruit is an important tropical fruit which faces substantial post-harvest losses and food safety concerns due to microbial contamination. This study investigated microorganisms associated with the shell, pulp and seed of D. guineense to determine infection rates, identify microbial species (fungal and bacterial) and assess their diversity. The research was conducted at the media preparation room of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Three (3) fruit parts were studied: Shell, pulp and seed on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and Nutrient Agar (NA) laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six (6) replications. It involved evaluating infection percentages, sub-culturing and identification based on cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics. Results showed a 100% infection rate across all fruit parts except one (1) replicate which had a 75% infection rate, indicating significant microbial pressure. A wide variety of fungal and bacterial species was observed, with specific microbial adaptations per fruit part. Pathogenic bacteria, including Shigella sp. and Bacillus cereus, were identified, posing potential health risks, alongside Aspergillus and Fusarium species. This study confirms the fruit's vulnerability to widespread microbial contamination. Findings underscore the critical necessity for improved safety measures against Aspergillus and Fusarium contamination, while identifying promising opportunities to utilize Saccharomyces sp. for industrial processing and seed extracts for natural preservation

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of watering regime and potting media on the growth of Amaranthus cruentus. The experiment was carried out at the Screenhouse of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin. The treatments includes: Top soil, Top soil amended with Trichoderma, Topsoil
amended with Cow dung, Watering1 (daily watering), Watering2 (watering every two days), Watering3 (watering every three days) and Watering4 (watering every four days)were fitted in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) replicated three times. Data was analyzed using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results of this study showed significant difference (p < 0.05) on watering regime and potting media. The different watering regime did not positively affect the growth of Amaranthus cruentus as the growth parameters were similar across the different watering regimes. Untreated top soil
produced the highest mean values for all growth parameters measured and the lowest was observed with the top soil amended with Trichoderma. Further research is recommended to explore the specific mechanisms through which top soil enhances growth of Amaranthus cruentus

This study investigated the effect of different seed coat pre-treatments on the germination and early seedling growth of Chrysophyllum delevoyi. The experiment was conducted at the nursery of the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Nigeria. The treatments applied were: total removal of seed coat (T₁), no removal of seed coat (control) (T₂), soaking in water for 24 hours (T₃), soaking in water for 48 hours (T₄), and nicked seed coat (T₅). The experimental design used was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates per treatment, each containing 15 seeds, giving a total of 225 seeds. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (ANOVA and LSD) at a 5% level of significance. Germination commenced at different times across treatments. Germination commenced 9 days after sowing (DAS) in T2, T3, T5 respectively and 8 days after sowing (DAS) in T4. T₁ failed to germinate, while T₂, T₃, and T₄ recorded mean germination percentages of 77.78%, 68.89%, and 73.33% respectively. The nicked seed coat (T₅) produced 42.22%. Mean germination time (MGT) ranged from 23.43 days(T₂) 23.10 days (T₃) to 23.32 days (T₄) and then 23.09 days (T₅), the control and soaked treatments showed faster emergence. Germination peaks were observed in the 3rd week after sowing (WAS) for T₂, T₃, and T₄. Growth parameters followed a similar trend. and growth data was recorded for 12 weeks. Wet and dry biomass were measured at termination of experiment using destructive method. The control (T₂) recorded the highest mean seedling height (11.13cm) while T3 had the lowest height (10.18cm). The collar diameter for T5 was the largest with a value of 1.85mm and T3 having the lowest value (1.55mm). The highest number of leaves was from T5 with 3.76 leaves, T4 having the lowest number (3.36 leaves. T3 had the longest root length of 14.47cm while the lowest value of 11.25cm was recorded for T5. The highest wet and dry biomass were recorded for treatments T2 and T3 with values of 4.02 and 1.83 respectively, while T4 and T5 had the lowest values of 3.55 for the wet biomass while T5 had the lowest value for the dry biomass (1.55)

Urban parks form an integral part of urban forest ecosystems, providing a wide range of ecological, socio-economic, and cultural benefits essential for human well-being and sustainable urban development. This study assesses the socio-economic value and public awareness of ecosystem services provided by trees within the Faculty of Social Science Park at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to 95 respondents selected through proportional sampling based on visitor frequency. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and the Relative Importance Index (RII). Findings showed that respondents demonstrated a high ability to identify key ecosystem services such as shade provision, aesthetic enhancement, air purification, recreational support, medicinal resources, and habitat provision. Cultural benefits such as recreation, landscape beauty, and stress reduction recorded the highest RII values, with beautification (RII = 0.808) and shade provision (RII = 0.80) ranked most important. Awareness of ecosystem services was also high, especially for provisioning services such as medicine (RII = 0.85) and timber (RII = 0.84). Despite this, willingness to pay (WTP) for park conservation was low, with 80% unwilling to contribute financially. Economic constraints accounted for over half (53.9%) of the reasons for refusal, highlighting the influence of income on environmental support behaviour. The study concludes the need for stronger environmental education, improved park infrastructure, and the integration of green-space management into university planning. This study recommends enhanced awareness, and policy backing of urban forest ecosystem services, in order to promote its long-term conservation and optimize the park’s role in supporting environmental quality, cultural values, and campus well-being

The study was conducted in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria, to assess information source utilization among arable crop farmers in the study area. The research specifically aimed to describe farmers' socio-economic characteristics, identify available information sources, analyze their access, preference, and frequency of use, determine motivational factors, and identify constraints to information utilization. A two-stage sampling procedure was adopted, leading to the random selection of 80 respondents. Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, and mean scores, while multiple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses. Findings on socio-economic characteristics revealed that the respondents were predominantly male (54.9%), married (73.2%), with a mean age of 45 years and an average of 15 years of farming experience. A majority (80.4%) had at least a primary education, and most were small-scale farmers with an average farm size of 2.02 hectares. The most utilized information sources were fellow farmers (97.6%), cooperative associations (95.1%), and radio (86.6%). A key finding was a disparity between access and preference; while extension agents and research institutions were highly preferred, access to them was low. The major constraints to information utilization were the high cost of modern technologies (x̄=4.74), poor access to extension services (x̄=4.56), and irregular power supply (x̄=4.50). Regression analysis showed that age had a significant negative relationship with both access to and frequency of use of information sources, while farming experience positively influenced access, and farm size positively influenced the frequency of use. The study concludes that farmers rely heavily on informal networks due to constraints in accessing formal sources. It recommends strengthening formal extension services, leveraging existing informal networks like cooperatives, and improving rural infrastructure to enhance information dissemination and utilization for improved agricultural productivity

An appraisal of the management practices of snail farming in Benin Metropolis of Edo State, Nigeria was done. The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, the snail management practices according to management systems and culture practices, the level of snails output, cost, returns and profitability from the management practices, and the constraints to snail production in the study area were the specific objectives of the study. Snow balling sampling technique was adopted to identify a total of 30 snail farmers in the study area and this formed the sample size for the study. Data collection was done through the use of structured questionnaire, direct observation, and personal interview. The work was analysed using descriptive statistics, budgetary analysis and likert scale. The results showed that majority of the respondents were males (83.4%) between the age bracket of 41 and 50 (40%), married (33.4%), had farming experience of 0-4 years (53.3%) and had tertiary education (56.7%). The results also showed that majority of the snail farmers adopted management practices that are in line with best standard practices and had average stock size and average output of 4317.8 snails each. The cost and return analysis revealed that for snail farms that are 2 to 3 years old, TC incurred during the production period was N1,157,631.00(100%), while TR of N2,225,861.20 was realized with a NFI of N1,068,230.00(92.2%) and NROI was N0.92. For snail farms that are 4 years and above, average TC incurred was N6,404,840.70 (100%) while TR was N16,138,530.00 and NFI was N9,733,689.30 (152.70%). NROI was N1.52. Results about constraints facing the snail farmers in the study area showed that only 3 of the 12 constraints presented were rated as serious, which are low capital (2.68), epileptic power supply (2.75) and inaccessibility to land (3.0). It was concluded that the management practices adopted by majority of the snail farmers were in accordance to best standard practices and that snail farming is a very profitable venture as justified by a NROI of N1.52. It was recommended that low income earners and women be sensitized to venture into snail farming, snail farmers be encouraged to restock foundation stock every 2 months to guarantee regular income, the need by government to establish snail research and breeding institutes, make funds readily available to farmers, encourage programs that provides farms inputs free of charge to farmers and mop up the produce, and finally, policy formulation drive of government be channeled towards achieving large scale snail production in Nigeria. Key: TC= Total cost, TR= Total Revenue, NFI= Net Farm Income, NROI= Net Return on Investment.

This study assessed the Human Development Index (HDI) of mango farmers in Esan South-East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria, with a focus on their socioeconomic characteristics, income sources, constraints, and the contribution of mango farming to household welfare. Using a two stage sampling procedure, 94 mango farmers were surveyed through structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, Likert-scale analysis, and the UNDP HDI methodology were employed for data
analysis. Results revealed a predominantly male (72.3%), middle-aged (mean 45years) farming population with moderate education (mean 9 years) and experience (mean 18 years). Mango farming was the primary income source (mean ₦297,414.89 annually), contributing 38.21% to household welfare, particularly in savings, food, and education. The estimated HDI was 0.665 (medium), with high longevity (0.862), low education (0.503), and medium standard of living (0.681). Major constraints included poor road networks (mean 3.81), high input costs (3.66), and postharvest losses (3.59). Findings align with studies showing that human development indices significantly influence agricultural output in Nigeria, where investments in health and education yield long-term productivity gains. The study recommends enhanced extension services, credit access, and infrastructure development to improve mango farmers’ HDI and livelihoods

This study examined the availability and utilization of digital tools among catfish farmers in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State. The specificobjectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, identify available digital tools, assess farmers’ awareness and utilization levels, andidentify the constraints affecting digital tool usage. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 120 catfish farmers, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations were used to analyzetheobjectives, while multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypothesis. Findings revealed that catfish farming in the area is dominated by middle-agedfarmers, with an average age of 42 years and 71.7% being male. The farmers werealso well educated, as 57.5% had tertiary education, while 26.7%had secondaryeducation. In addition, the respondents had 9 years of farming experience. Regarding the digital tools, mobile phones (98.3%), WhatsApp (85.8%), Facebook (83.3%), mobile banking (72.5%), and YouTube (69.2%) were the most readily availableandwidely known digital tools among the farmers. Awareness of digital tools wasgenerally high across platform ranging from 98.3% for mobile phones to 16.7%forPay-Per-Click (PPC) services of these tools was high for mobile phone, Whatsapp, Facebook, Mobile banking and YouTube. Utilization was greatest for basictoolssuch as mobile phones (4.60). Farmers reported several constraints affecting digital
tool use. The most pressing challenges included inadequate operating capital, highcost of ICT devices, unstable power supply, high internet subscription costs, andlimited digital literacy, all highlighted in the reported mean scores in the constraints section of the study. The regression model revealed that socio-economic characteristics significantly influenced digital tool utilization among the farmers, with the model producing0.001, indicating a strong overall relationship. Among the predictors, education level
(0.004), years of farming experience (0.027), annual income (0.021), and association membership (0.015) emerged as statistically significant determinants of utilization. Hence, the study concluded that although catfish farmers have high awareness of digital tools, utilization remains centered on simple and readily accessible technologies. Addressing financial, infrastructural, and capacity-related constraintswill be essential to enhancing digital adoption in aquaculture. The findings from the study recommends that the government agencies, NGO’s, and extension services should improve digital literacy training, better access to affordable devices andcredit, enhanced internet connectivity, and strengthened cooperative support systems to optimize digital tool utilization and boost aquaculture productivity in the study area.

Despite the importance of poultry, its production is still in the hands of small holder farmers, fragmented farm holdings and usage of unskilled labour force. Farming activities are carried out by both males and females where there is often a gender division of labour. This study assessed gender roles in poultry farming in delta State, Nigeria. Specifically it examines the socio-economic characteristicsof poultry farmers in the study area; ascertain the division of labour by gender inpoultry farming; identify factors responsible for the dominance (if any) byanyofthe gender group in poultry farming; identify information needs and source bygender in poultry farming and; identify problems faced by respondents in poultry farming. Questionnaire was used to solicit data from one hundred and sixty(160), made up of 102 males and 58 females poultry farmers and analysed with frequency counts, percentages, means, standard deviation and hypotheses testingusing t-test Results showed that a higher proportion (43.1%) of male and majority (55.2%) offemale poultry farmers were between 41 and 50 years and most (90.2%) and(93.1%) were married; also majority (54)9% and 63.8%as males andfemalesfamers had poultry experience of between 6 and 10 years. Most (89.4%) and a higher proportion (48.8%) of males and females respectively were involved in preparation of poultry feeds and sourcing of day old chicks respectively. Therewas no significant difference in male and female poultry farmers access to information sources. The study conclude that male gender dominance in poultry farming was mainly strength needed for the task.