An Evaluation of the Impact of Climate Variability on Pineapple. Production in Edo State and its marketability in Lagos.
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Date
2011
Authors
Ege, E. E
Ekop, G. E
Omenai, J
Okoloye, C. U
Asenime, O. C
Onuoha, D
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Abstract
Pineapple is the world's most popular non-citrus tropical and subtropical fruit and until recently, about 80% of pineapple produced in Nigeria came from small scale farms and its production had been under mixed cropping systems. The various localities involved in the pineapple production are now known to be exposed to climate related uncertainties across an integrated chain, including pineapple cultivation, harvesting, storage and marketing. In recent years, access to international markets enhanced local values of fresh fruits and increased interest in the cultivation of pineapple in Nigeria, especially, in Edo State. This has encouraged the development of local processing industries and large scale intensive managed farms where pineapple is produced as a monocrop.
In 1999, the World Bank, through her agency (FAO) rated Nigeria as the 6th largest producer of pineapple. Unfortunately, today, we observe that the production of pineapple is on the decline both in size, quality and quantity. This paper therefore investigates into some climatic elements such as temperature, rainfall, etc. in Edo State of Nigeria to see the variation in the last 10 years. It is concluded that the efficiency of microclimate manipulation depends significantly on the level of land cultivation of a particular farm, as well as the doses of mineral fertilizers. Observation also shows that optimization of water regime of the soil can raise pineapple yields.
Twenty (20)pineapple farmers from the Edo State Ministry of Agriculture were interviewed, and in Ketu Food Market, Lagos, we administered 60 questionnaires to 60 dealers in Edo pineapple. Using descriptive statistic and time series analysis, the study shows that some climatic variables influence the quality and quantity of the fruit during production and while in transit to Lagos.
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Keywords
Tropical fruit , Subtropical fruit , Cropping system , International market , Food and Agricultural organisation (FAO) , Soil , Fertilizers , Farmers
Citation
Ege, E. E. et al (2011). An Evaluation of the Impact of Climate Variability on Pineapple. Production in Edo State and its marketability in Lagos. Paper presented at 52nd Annual Conference of the Association of Nigerian Geographers, Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria.