We conducted this study in the Agogo Traditional Area of the Ashanti region of Ghana where there are numerous cases of conflicts between crop and animal Farmers as a result of insufficient pasture for livestock, especially during the dry seasons. This has drawn the attention of various stakeholders in agriculture to the need for supplement feed through pasture establishment. The study examines Farmers’ perception and the financial viability of pasture establishment for small ruminant production. The specific objectives of the study are as follow: to identify the cost and returns for the establishment of an acre of pasture, to assess the financial viability of pasture establishment on ‘cut and sell’ basis, to investigate Farmers’ perception of pasture establishment for cattle production, to conduct a SWOT analysis of the establishment of pasture in Agogo. The study purports to analyze in detail, Farmers' perceptions about the nature of the proposed 'Fodder Bank' policy and its likely effect on crop and livestock production, and whether the proposed policy could generate adequate monetary returns to induce its adoption at the farm level. The study seeks to provide evidence in support of SDG goals 2 (Zero hunger) and 12 (Responsible consumption and production) of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. To the authors' best of knowledge, this is envisage to provide valuable information to support policy initiatives intended to tackle the root cause of farmer-herder conflicts. The Asante Akim North Municipal is one of the 27 administrative Districts in the Ashanti Region. Its capital is Konongo- Odumasi. The population for this study comprises livestock and crop Farmers in Agogo. Asante Akim North Municipal was purposively selected for the study because it is noted for its agrarian abilities and massive production of food in the Ashanti region. The multi stage sampling was employed in this study. At the first stage, Asante Agogo traditional area was selected purposively due to the fact that majority of the inhabitants engage in agricultural activities (GSS 2010). At the second stage, three communities in Agogo namely, Hwidiem, Ananekrom and Bebuso were selected purposively. At the third stage, quota sampling was used to obtain a specific number of Farmers from each of the three communities to sum up to 150 respondents as shown in table. Simple random sampling technique was then used to engage the selected Farmers in these communities. A sample size of 150 respondents were obtained using the Slovin’s formulae which is a scientific method of obtaining the sample size for a given population. Structured questionnaires consisting of open and close ended questions were used to gather primary data from respondents through face-to-face interviews. Interviews were conducted using the Local dialect mostly to enhance communication and to clear all language barriers but English was used where the respondents could give accurate answers in English Language. Data per the questionnaires from respondents were concerning their perception of pasture establishment and the assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of pasture establishment. Secondary data was sought from books, journals, dissertations and the internet. Useful and relevant information on the appropriate materials and their costs for establishing pasture was also obtained from the Agogo MoFA office, and the KNUST Department of Animal Science. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, tables and means were used to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of respondents. It was revealed in the study that majority of crop Farmers have had their crops destroyed by ruminants especially cattle at least once. Additionally, the study showed that pasture establishment is one way through which crop farms destruction by livestock can be prevented as about 99% of Farmers responded in the affirmative. The results for the financial viability of the venture under the assumptions used gave relevant results with BCR of 1.18 and NPV of GHC 3,160. The Internal Rate Return of the venture is estimated at 40.1% and a Pay Back period of 2.61 years. Therefore, it will be economically prudent for investors to commit resources towards establishing pasture. The perception index for commercial, economic and financial concerns of pasture establishment was 3.7 which is skewed toward agree. The statement that had the highest positive perception index was about the fact that pasture establishment will increase the quality of meat. This implies that respondents perceive that the commercial, economic and financial results of pasture establishment will be positive. The perception index for the social category was 3.66. The statement with the highest positive assertion by respondents is the fact that pasture establishment will help control the movement of animals. The perception index of 3.66 which is skewed towards agree means that pasture establishment will attract the support from the community and also bring more benefits to the society. In the category of technical concerns of pasture establishment, the overall perception index for this category is 3.15, which means that the respondents perceive they have a fair technical know- how concerning pasture establishment even though the venture requires technical know-how. In the category of institutional concerns, support and involvement in pasture establishment, the statement with the highest perception index is that MoFA will support Farmers with the necessary resources in its capacity. With reference to the chi-square test, the study can conclude that there is a significant relationship between the type of farmer and the perception that support can be drawn from farmer-based associations, and the perception that pasture establishment will increase livestock production as well as the general sales of Farmers. Lastly, the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the educational background of the farmer and the perception that it is not difficult to select planting materials for pasture establishment. Farmers in Asante Akim Agogo should adopt the establishment of pasture since it is financially viable. The establishment of pasture in Asante Akim Agogo should be encouraged since it has the potency to reduce the farmer - herder conflicts and ensure food security. For successful pasture establishment, technical know-how is essential.

The research analyzed the land tenure system among rice Farmers in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two hundred and forty (240) Farmers were sampled by a multi stage sampling procedure and used as respondents for the study. Well-structured questionnaires were used for data collection.The main means of data analysis were percentages and correlation. Findings revealed that 46.7 percent of the respondents were within the age range of 31-40 years. Majority (77.9%) of the respondents were married and full time Farmers. The predominant system of land ownership among the respondents was by inheritance. Land fragmentation was perceived to be the major constraints to land ownership in the study area. The results further showed that farm size correlated positively and significantly with annual income (r=0.519, p<0.001) and the yield significantly and positively correlated with marital status (r=0.243, p<0.001), annual income (r=0.604, p<0.001) and farm size (r=0.727, p<0.001). The problems of land tenure system that affects rice production as revealed by the study were Land fragmentation, Excessive land ownership, Land litigation and Expropriation. The study recommended that legislation given rice Farmers title to land should be enforced by government in consideration of the fact that rice production need to improve to meet the demand of the teaming populace in the study area.

The central issue of the present paper is the study of the causes of the mother tongue decline in the Sahne city in Kermanshah province. The issue of language is beyond the dialect of people and is refer to the form of life and the matter of macroeconomic and political relations. From this perspective, the form of life and the language associated with it explain the praxis of the members of the society. The appropriate method of examining the problem should be able to analyze the justification of agents to their situation, that is why Grounded Theory is chosen as the method of this research and data analysis is taken from abduction reasoning. The results of the analysis introduced the categories of globalizing, modernizing, de-use of language, economic necessity and the government as the most important factors of Local language fading. In this essay the meaning of globalization is the globalizing of special type of economic relation that explain other categories role in the process of fading of languages.

Identifying the constraining factors of production and yield gap is very important. Therefore; this research was performed to identify the production constraining factors of Local rice cultivars. All management practices from nursery preparation to harvesting stages for 100 paddy fields of Local rice cultivars were recorded through field studies, in Sari, from 2015-2016. In the CPA, the actual and calculated potential yield were 4495 and 5703 kg/ha, respectively and the gap was 1221 kg/ha. The yield gap caused by number of top-dressing variables was 324 kg/ha, equal to 27% of the total yield gap. The yield gap related to previous year of legumes cultivation was 218 kg ha-1, equal to 18% of the total yield variation. Among the 10 variables entered in the CPA model, the effects of top-dress fertilizer application and its application frequency and foliar application were remarkable, which could compensate a significant part of the yield gap (444 kg/ha, 37% of total) in the Farmers’ fields by managing these variables. According to boundary line analysis (BLA) finding, actual yield mean on the basis of optimal limit related to 12 variables under study was 5369 kg/ha, with 881 kg/ha yield gap . Mean relative yield and relative yield gap for 12 variables (transplanting date, seedling age, number of seedlings per hill, planting density, nitrogen and phosphorous per hectare, nitrogen before transplanting, harvesting date, lodging problem, pest problem, diseases problem and weeds problem) were 83.64 and 16.35 kg/ha, respectively. Based on the finding, it can be stated that the model precision is appropriate and can be applied for both estimation of the quantity of yield gap and determining the portion of each restricting yield variables.

To examine the possibility of water users participation in the management of irrigation and drainage networks through Local organisations, Doroodzan network in Fars province was studied. A random sample of 44 Local organisations were selected and interviewed. The results of the study revealed that among the present Local organisations, agricultural production cooperatives are in a better position to be involved in the management irrigation and drainage net work. Although Islamic rural board, could play a role in supervision of the irrigation affairs in villages, but they are not in a position to get involved fully in the management affairs. In villages that agricultural production cooperatives have not existed, there is a need to establish water users associations to take the responsibility of irrigation management, gradually. In order such associations to be more successful, some other activities such as marketing of members"products and purchasing of farm inputs are recommended.

Background: The frequent conflict between nomads and Farmers has been recently a major challenge in Nigeria, resulting in a huge economic setback which may have serious consequences on food security in Nigeria. There are limited studies linking to food security,hence, this study aims to examine the effect of the nomad–, farmer conflict on food security among arable crop Farmers in Iwajowa, Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: Primary data was used for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed to collect data from 150 arable crop Farmers through a multistage sampling procedure from two wards and three villages, which were randomly selected. The food security index (FSI) and Logit regression model were used for data analysis. Results: The result revealed that the majority (74. 67%) of the arable crop Farmers were affected by the nomad-farmer conflict. Most of the arable crop Farmers (54. 00%) were food insecure. The factors that predisposed the arable crop Farmers to being affected by the conflict were access to water point, land tenure system, bush burning, and years of education at different levels. Being affected by the nomad–, farmer conflict caused food insecurity along with age, sex, and household size. Conclusion: It was therefore concluded that arable crop Farmers in the study area were mostly affected by the nomad-conflicts that influence food insecurity. Policy measures by the government aimed at reducing the conflict between arable crop Farmers and nomads should include water supply and increasing Farmers’,years of education.

Multi-label classification aims at assigning more than one label to each instance. Many real-world multi-label classification tasks are high dimensional, leading to reduced performance of traditional classifiers. Feature selection is a common approach to tackle this issue by choosing prominent features. Multi-label feature selection is an NP-hard approach, and so far, some swarm intelligence-based strategies and have been proposed to find a near optimal solution within a reasonable time. In this paper, a hybrid intelligence algorithm based on the binary algorithm of particle swarm optimization and a novel Local search strategy has been proposed to select a set of prominent features. To this aim, features are divided into two categories based on the extension rate and the relationship between the output and the Local search strategy to increase the convergence speed. The first group features have more similarity to class and less similarity to other features, and the second is redundant and less relevant features. Accordingly, a Local operator is added to the particle swarm optimization algorithm to reduce redundant features and keep relevant ones among each solution. The aim of this operator leads to enhance the convergence speed of the proposed algorithm compared to other algorithms presented in this field. Evaluation of the proposed solution and the proposed statistical test shows that the proposed approach improves different classification criteria of multi-label classification and outperforms other methods in most cases. Also in cases where achieving higher accuracy is more important than time, it is more appropriate to use this method.

In spite of the development of various improved cultivars of maize, yield in Nigeria has continued to be hampered by the over cropped nature of most farmlands as well as a wide range of pests and diseases. This study therefore carried out an analysis of agro-chemical inputs’ use in maize production among small scale Farmers in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between agro-chemical inputs’ use and maize yield in the study area. It determined the factors affecting agro-chemical inputs’use and the major constraints to its usage. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from 105 respondents obtained through a two stage random sampling procedure. Analytical tools employed for the study included Pearson Moment correlation and linear regression analysis. The study revealed a 78.5% positive and significant relationship between agro-chemical inputs’ use and maize yield (p<0.01). High cost and irregularity of supplies, insufficient farm income and fear of health hazards were the major constraints to the use of agro-chemicals. The determinants of agro-chemical inputs’ use among the Farmers were; farm size, income at p<0.01 and educational status and household size at p<0.1. The study concluded that a strong positive relationship existed between agro-chemical inputs’ use and maize yield in the study area. It is recommended that there should be guaranteed minimum price for agricultural produce and that Farmers should be empowered to increase their farm size through agricultural mechanization.