Format: MS WORD | Chapter: 1-5 | Pages: 65-80 |
ECONOMICS OF VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN YEWA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This study is to determine the economics of vegetable production in Yewa north local government in Nigeria, vegetable crops are produced in different agro-ecological zones through commercial as well as small scale farmers both as a source of income as well as food. However, the type is limited to few crops and production is concentrated to some pocket areas. In spite of this, the production of vegetables varies from cultivating a few plants in the backyards for home consumption up to a large-scale production for domestic and export markets (Dawitet. al., 2014). Recently, despite the ups and downs observed, the demand for vegetables especially for export is increasing (Tsegay, 2010). In fact, vegetables can generate high income for the farmers because of high market value and profitability. They also have high nutritive value compared to cereals (EARO, 2010) Vegetables are an important feature of Nigerian’s diet that a traditional meal without it is assumed to be incomplete. In developing countries, the consumption of vegetables is generally lower than the FAO recommendation of 75kg per year in habitant (206g per day per capita) (Badmus and Yekini, 2011). In Nigeria, vegetable production has been on-going for decades, providing employment and income for the increasing population especially during the long dry season. However production is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, agronomic and socio-economic variables (Sabo and Zira, 2014). It has been widely demonstrated that rural women, as well as men, throughout the world are engaged in a range of productive activities essential to household welfare, agricultural productivity, and economic growth. Vegetable crops are grown in many parts of the world contributing significantly to income security and the nutritive diet of many households. According to (Mofekeet al.2013) Vegetable crops constitute 30 to 50 percent of iron and vitamin A in resource poor diet.
The shading of crops results in number of changes on both local microclimate and consequently crop growth and development (Kittaset al., 2015). (Takteet al. 2013) reported that shade nets were used for protection of valuable crops against excess sunlight, cold, frost, wind and insect/birds. They experimented on the effects of shading on crop growth and development, it was found that shading increased leaf area index and total marketable yield production, reduced the appearance of tomato cracking about 50% and accordingly, the marketable tomato production was about 50% higher under shading conditions than under non-shading conditions. (Smith et al. 2014) observed that under shading nets the air temperature was lower than that of the ambient air, depending on the shading intensity. Shade netting not only decreases light quantity but also alters light quality to a varying extent and might also change other environmental conditions. The shade netting determines the commercial value of crop, including yield, product quality, and rate of maturation (Shahaket al., 2014). Poor head formation, leaf twisting, early bolting, and reduced yields occurred when leafy vegetables were grown under hot, high-sunlight conditions without shade net (Sajjapongse and Roan, 2013).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Nigeria as a country is unable to meet its domestic requirements for vegetables, fruits, floriculture, herbs and spices, dried nuts and pulses. Between 2015 and 2010, Nigeria imported a total of 105,000 metric tonnes of tomato paste valued at over 16 billion naira to bridge the deficit gap between supply and demand in the country (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2016). Kalu in 2013, attributed this situation to socio-economic constraint surrounding the key actors in the tomato value chain, institutional weaknesses and declining agricultural research.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The broad objective of the study is to determine the profitability of vegetable production among the rural household farmers. The specific objectives are to:
1. Describe the socio-economic characteristics of the vegetable farmers in the study area; ·
2. Examine the level of profit generated from vegetable production in the study area; ·
