The major concern of most African countries, including Nigeria, in recent times is how to increase food production because of food insecurity issues, which by extension, is a major contributing factor to the prevalence of poverty. Therefore, adoption of conservation agricultural practices is regarded as a pathway to drive the achievement of food and nutrition security, as well as the needed optimal performance in the agri-food sector. Reportedly, scaling up of the limited adoption of these practices could be facilitated through kinship ties, peer influence, and social networks that govern mutual interactions among individuals; therefore, this motivated the study. Using cross-sectional data obtained from 350 sample units selected from South-Western Nigeria through a multistage sampling technique, this study applied descriptive statistical tools and cross-tabulation techniques to profile the sampled subjects while count outcome models were used to investigate the factors driving counts of conservative agriculture (CA) adoption. Similarly, a marginal treatment effects (MTEs) model (parametric approach) using local IV estimator was applied to examine the effects of CA adoption on the outcome (log of farmers’ farm income). Additionally, appropriate measures of fit tests statistics were used to test the reliabilities of the fitted models. Findings revealed that farmers’ years of farming experience (p < 0.1), frequency of extension visits (p < 0.05), and social capital viz-a-viz density of social group memberships (p < 0.05) significantly determined the count of CA practices adopted with varying degrees by smallholder farmers. Although, social capital expressed in terms of membership of occupational group and diversity of social group members also had a positive influence on the count of CA practices adopted but not significant owing largely to the “information gaps” about agricultural technologies in the study area. However, the statistical tests of the MTEs indicated that the treatment effects differed significantly across the covariates and it also varied significantly with unobserved heterogeneity. The policy relevant treatment effect estimates also revealed that different policy scenarios could increase or decrease CA adoption, depending on which individuals it induces to attract the expected spread and exposure.

Sustainable agricultural practices, such as conservation agriculture (CA), remain an important crux of conservation efforts to boost food crop production output due to productivity decline. Using cross-sectional survey data from 350 smallholder farmers, this study investigated the likelihood of adoption of CA practices in South-West Nigeria based on a number of factors as well as factors predicted to effect farmers’ output when these practices were adopted. Cross-tabulation technique was applied to profile the farmers’ features, while heckman selectivity model was used to estimate the effect of CA adoption on farmers’ production output from CA plots and to sequentially address potential selectivity problem in a bid to disentangle the effect of adoption and other confounders which vary across individual farmers. Findings revealed that exposure time period, land acquisition, CA farm size cultivated, total farm size, access to extension services and social capital components are significant predictors of adoption. Likewise, human capital (years of formal education and farming experience), marital status, access to extension service and frequency of extension visit significantly predict farmers’ production output. Most importantly, the estimated selection bias control parameter was significantly different from zero, which is an indication that there was a significant effect of CA adoption on farmers’ production output from CA plot.

Poverty is a topical issue in developing countries especially Africa and Nigeria in particular. The dearth of studies on quantitative determinants of poverty in Nigeria is a major weak point in the country’s poverty reduction policy and strategy formulation. This study analyzed the incidence, severity and the determinants of household poverty in Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria using the data collected through well-structured questionnaire from 120 respondents who were selected through a multistage sampling technique. Analytical techniques used include descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages and mean values), poverty Indices and ordinary least square technique (OLS); this was used to assess the determinants of poverty among the households. The findings revealed that poverty is higher among households that have old heads, female heads, and large household size, engage in farming as the only occupation and have no formal education; poverty therefore rises with the increase in household size while it reduces with increase in level of education, farm size and participation non-farm jobs as alternative livelihood source (livelihood diversification). Gender, household size, years spent in school, farm size and non-farm jobs were found to be important and significant factors determining poverty in the study area. The study recommends that, there is the need to control household size, invest in human capital development, increase farm size and embrace livelihood diversification; these and many more are ingredients of effective poverty reduction strategies.

Most of the world's poor, including those in Nigeria, live in rural and agrarian settings and are engaged in agricultural practices for sustenance. Meanwhile, increasing agricultural productivity requires the adoption of modern technologies and improved farming systems, which entail considerable cost outlays for initial adoption and continued use. These costs may be out of reach for resource-poor smallholder farmers, hence the need to embrace indigenous knowledge practices (IKPs) in an agrarian economy such as Nigeria. This research examined the contribution of farmers' food security attainment efforts through the use of IKPs. Drawing on a documentary review of literature and empirical evidence, as well as data collected from 349 randomly selected smallholder farmers, the study applied descriptive statistics, a standardized food insecurity experience scale survey module, and a multivariate probit regression model to analyze the dataset. The findings revealed that almost 86% of the farmers have a strong and positive perception of the effectiveness of IKPs on agricultural production, while approximately 90% of the farmers are food insecure (those in the chronic and moderate food insecurity categories). The results also indicated that farmers' food security status, household size vis-à-vis dependency ratio, awareness of IKPs, age of the farmers, years of farming experience, access to extension services, and frequency of visits by extension personnel significantly influenced farmers' use of traditional farming practices, crop selection/rotation strategies, and water management techniques in the study area. Despite the farmers' use of IKPs, most of them are still largely food insecure, which raises serious concerns. Given this, the study recommends a multi-stakeholder partnership to foster synergies between the use of indigenous knowledge and modern scientific approaches by farmers, harnessing the complementary strengths of both knowledge systems to address the contemporary challenges faced by smallholder farmers in the agri-food systems.

Purpose: Many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria have initiated programmes targeted at addressing food insecurity, but without any major significant breakthrough. This necessitates the call for inclusion of social network institutional framework into the food and nutrition security policy of many developing countries. This is touted as an important social safety net needed for farming households’ economic advancement and welfare. Consequent on this, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of social networks in building resilience against food insecurity among farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: Data collected from a sample of 297 smallholder farmers during 2015/2016 agricultural production season were analysed using descriptive statistics to describe farmers’ notable characteristics. However, Foster–Greer–Thorbecke indices vis-à-vis food consumption expenditure-metrics technique was used to evaluate the food security profile of the respondents. Similarly, ordinary least square and two-stage least square (2SLS) models were applied to investigate the effects and “reverse causality” in the social networks food security model. Findings: The study findings indicated that about 48.15 per cent of the smallholder farmers are food insecure. Similarly, the study revealed that age (p<0.01), years of formal education (p<0.05), marital status (p<0.05), number of persons in the family (p<0.01), executive status in social groups (p<0.05), aggregate social networks (p<0.1) and non-food consumption expenditure (p<0.01) made significant contributions to food security status of farming households. Importantly, 2SLS estimation indicated non-existence of reverse causality effect of social networks components and households’ food security status. Social implications: There is an urgent need for pragmatic policies that support systematic and organized social groups and networks formation in the rural/agrarian areas across Nigeria. Originality/value: A widely accepted view of economic theory posits that traditional capitals (physical, economic/financial and human) drive households’ welfare including food security status. However, this study has established the relevance of social networks as an important component of human well-being. Apparently, this study also established the exogeneity of social networks in the framework of households’ food security status.