Abstract: Agriculture employs about three-quarter of Nigeria's workforce and yet food sufficiency is a challenge in the country. This is largely due to poor and outdated pre-harvest and post-harvest farming practices. The land fallow system is still been practised as fertiliser production in the country is grossly inadequate and expensive. The few available post-harvest processing facilities are faced with ageing and are inefficient. Also, use of modern processing equipment is limited by farmers' lack of fund, adequate capacity to operate and maintain modern farming equipment. This paper, therefore, examines key barriers to agricultural products processing equipment in the country. These barriers include over-dependence on foreign technologies and expertise; poor and inadequate manufacturing infrastructure; and lack of political will by political leaders; lack of funds; and lack of adequate technical skills. This paper, however, sees the increase in the domestic manufacturing of pre-harvest and post-harvest machinery and equipment through reverse engineering approach as a key to food production sufficiency in Nigeria.
Abstract: Agricultural machinery industry plays an important
role in the industrial development especially the production industry
of the country. There has been continuing development responding to
the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in
agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of
this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of
industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on
the small and medium size industry receiving factory license type
number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The
investigation was on the comparison between the management of the
small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the
central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189
company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from
the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data
were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard
deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical
significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size
agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of
Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the
problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that
there was no statistically difference at .05 in managing of the small
and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However,
there was a statistically significant difference between the small and
medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of
policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the
small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were
the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and
stability of the country.
Abstract: The importance of agribusiness development is
proved in accordance with the trends in the agricultural sector of
Georgia. Agribusiness environment and the consequences of the
agricultural reforms are evaluated. The factors hindering the
development of agribusiness are revealed and the ways for
overcoming these problems are suggested. SWOT analysis is done in
order to identify the needs of agribusiness. The needs of agribusiness
development in Georgia are evaluated by priorities: prevention of
diseases and reduction of the harm caused by these diseases,
accessibility of long-term agricultural loans with low interest rates,
improving qualification of farmers, the level of education and usage
of modern technologies, changes in legislation, accessibility to high
quality agricultural machinery, and the development of infrastructure.
Based on the outcomes of the research, agribusiness development
strategies in Georgia are suggested and appropriate priorities of
economic policy are determined. Conclusions are made and based on
these conclusions, some recommendations are suggested.