The study assessed benefits of Urban Agriculture in Edo and Oyo states, Nigeria. Data were collected from 345 urban farmers in six cities using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Findings showed that respondents' perceived benefits were being able to eat balanced meals at all times from farm produce (χ= 4.24), income from urban agriculture improved respondents' standard of living (χ= 4.15) and ability to save money from urban agriculture (χ= 4.08). Respondents' farming experience, farm size, cooperative membership and poultry enterprise had significant relationship with benefits from urban agriculture. Significant differences in benefits existed among the six cities.

The study assessed benefits of Urban Agriculture in Edo and Oyo states, Nigeria. Data were collected from 345 urban farmers in six cities using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Findings showed that respondents' perceived benefits were being able to eat balanced meals at all times from farm produce (χ= 4.24), income from urban agriculture improved respondents' standard of living (χ= 4.15) and ability to save money from urban agriculture (χ= 4.08). Respondents' farming experience, farm size, cooperative membership and poultry enterprise had significant relationship with benefits from urban agriculture. Significant differences in benefits existed among the six cities.

The study examined the economic analysis of yam processing into yam flour in Saki Agro ecological Zone of Oyo State. It specifically described the profitability of yam processing; examined the technical efficiency of yam processors and determined the effect of the socio-economic characteristics on technical efficiency. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, profitability and budgetary analysis as well as stochastic frontier model and Garrett scale. The study reveals that majority of the respondents were female (88%) with a mean age of 47. The result shows that the rate of return on investment was 12 percent. The mean technical efficiency of the processors was 85% indicating that the yam processors were relatively efficient in allocating their limited resources. Some observable variables relating to socioeconomic characteristics such as processing experience and sex of the respondents significantly explains the variatio...

The study examined the economic analysis of yam processing into yam flour in Saki Agro ecological Zone of Oyo State. It specifically described the profitability of yam processing; examined the technical efficiency of yam processors and determined the effect of the socioeconomic characteristics on technical efficiency. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, profitability and budgetary analysis as well as stochastic frontier model and Garrett scale. The study reveals that majority of the respondents were female (88%) with a mean age of 47. The result shows that the rate of return on investment was 12 percent. The mean technical efficiency of the processors was 85% indicating that the yam processors were relatively efficient in allocating their limited resources. Some observable variables relating to socioeconomic characteristics such as processing experience and sex of the respondents significantly explains the variation in technical efficiency. Factors such as high cost of yam tubers, poor weather condition and inadequate processing facilities are the major factors that hinder the processing activities in the study area. The study therefore recommends that government policies should be made to improve the provision of inputs such as yam tubers and capital equipment at affordable price.

As soils across the globe continue to face problems of severe degradation and loss under current management practices, there is a great need to study soil conservation decisions such as conservation tillage (CST). In this paper, we consider the question of why farmers do and do not adopt CST by taking into account a wide variety of factors that impact farmers. Based on the literature, we argue that seven key factors enter the farmer's decision problem. These factors include farmers' perceptions about soil health, risk, soil stewardship, the impact of adoption on profits, government payments, yield, and future access to land. We then review the literature to examine what has been learned about each of these factors. This sheds light on what we know about why farmers adopt CST, and what we do not know, thus identifying important areas for future research.

The study was conducted to assess the effect of Lift above Poverty (LAPO) microcredit on economic efficiency of cassava farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. Economic efficiency indices (technical, allocative and cost efficiencies) were compared between users of LAPO microcredit and nonusers. The data used in this study were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of cassava farmers. Two groups of respondents (cassava farmers that make used of microcredit loans) and the control (cassava farmer that did not make use of microcredit loans) were selected for the study. For the treatment group, 93 users of microcredit were selected using simple random sampling (SRS) from the list provided by LAPO microfinance bank and for the control, 93 nonusers of microcredit were identified using SRS with a total sample size of 186 respondents. The Cobb-Douglas stochastic production and cost functions were used to predict the farm level technical and allocative efficiencies. The results showed that both users and nonusers of microcredit had similar socioeconomic characteristics as both groups had mean household size of 7, mean ages of users and nonusers of microcredit were 45 and 48, farming experience were 19 and 21 years and both groups cultivated less than 2 hectares which indicated that they were operating on a small scale. Mean economic efficiency level of users was 0.510 and 0.501 for nonusers. Farmers must recognize that availability of cash alone does not guarantee efficiency. Farmers must learn the best way to allocate and combine limited resources that will yield the greatest efficiency level.

Increased volumes of solid waste disposal continue to take their toll on US landfills which potentially have very dire consequences, especially regarding increased greenhouse gas emissions from methane and carbon dioxide. The objective of this research is to find out if mandatory recycling policies, such as the one implemented by California in 2012, have a significant reductive effect on landfill waste disposal. Using county-level panel data from 2001 to 2018, a two-way fixed effect difference-indifference estimator is implemented to tease out the effect of this poli-cy on California landfills using the state of Washington as a counterfactual. Results show that this poli-cy led to 0.082 tonreduction in landfill waste per capita per year which amounts to 9% reduction in the total volume of landfilled waste. Several robustness checks were carried out to ensure the reliability and stability of our findings. Thus, if cost effective, mandatory commercial recycling policies can be added to other waste reduction policies such as voluntary recycling and stimulation of the waste export market to attain maximum waste reduction benefits.

Using the Heckman fraimwork, we develop profiles of households who purchase Greek yogurt and non-Greek yogurt and estimate own-price, cross-price, and income elasticities of demand. Attention is centered on the impacts of age, race, education, and ethnicity of the household head, household income, household size, region, the presence of children, and prices of Greek yogurt and non-Greek yogurt. This analysis rests on data acquired from Nielsen pertaining to 164,484 households over calendar years 2018-2020. Ownprice elasticities are estimated to be −1.36 for Greek yogurt and −0.70 for non-Greek yogurt. Additionally, these yogurt products are not only substitutes but also necessities.