Correction to: Ensuring Sustainability in Forests Through the Participation of Locals: Implications for Extension Education

This study examined the relationship between hired labour use and food security among rural farming households in Kwara State, Nigeria. It determined the food security status of rural farming households and investigated the determinants of hired labour use. A four-stage random sampling technique was used to select 135 rural farming households from which data were collected with the use of a well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and the Tobit regression model were the analytical tools used for the study. The study revealed that only about half of the households (51.1%) were food secure and that there is a positive correlation between the hired labour use and their food security status. Dependency ratio, age and educational qualification of the household head, total household size, and household income significantly influenced hired labour use (p<0.01). The study recommends the need for agricultural credit schemes in Nigeria to accord higher priority to older farmers and poor rural households. In addition, extension education which emphasizes agriculture as a business rather than a mere way of life should be promoted among farmers.

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Extension education strategy for minimizing aflatoxin impact on sub-Saharan African agriculture and food systems

World Mycotoxin Journal ◽

10.3920/wmj2014.1716 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 253-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Ayeni

Keyword(s):

Foreign Exchange ◽

Food Systems ◽

Local Community ◽

Aflatoxin Contamination ◽

International Standards ◽

Extension Education ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Extension Services ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Sub Saharan

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the most vulnerable region of the world to all aflatoxin-related problems including food insecurity, ill health and reduced foreign exchange earnings. Aflatoxin-contaminated maize, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum and other crops reduce human access to adequate calories from these staples; consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated foods results in severe health conditions, including liver cancer, that deny the region a significant amount of otherwise productive man-hours; while the reduction of grain quality below the international standards due to aflatoxin contamination drastically reduces income in foreign exchange earnings. Scientific knowledge of the causes of aflatoxins in agricultural systems and their mitigation abounds in research institutions in SSA and internationally, but most of this knowledge is unavailable to farmers, food consumers and policy makers in useful form due to poor extension education and ineffective extension services. A paradigm shift in the approach to extension in SSA is proposed, one driven by a sustainable mechanism that is sensitive to the needs of the people and proactive (rather than reactive) in providing solutions to aflatoxin-related problems the local community and policy makers have to deal with. This paper argues that such sustainable mechanism may only be found in a University-based and University-run ‘land grant’ type extension services adapted appropriately to SSA conditions.

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