Agricultural Science 2019 Jamb Examination

Farm productivity is boosted through improved crop varieties, the use of fertilisers or manure to enrich soil nutrients, and modern farm tools to reduce labour and improve efficiency. Improved sales of produce, however, affect income but not the physical yield itself. Yield increases are tied directly to agronomic and technological practices rather than marketing.

Land tenure refers to how land rights are acquired and transferred. In Nigeria, inheritance is the most widespread form, where land ownership is passed from one generation to another within families. Other systems such as outright purchase or state allocation exist but are less dominant, especially in rural communities.

We need to determine the quantity of manure required to supply 1.5kg of phosphorus when 1kg of manure contains 0.32kg phosphorus.

Write the relationship
Phosphorus required = Amount of manure * 0.32
Substitute the values\[ 1.5 = x \times 0.32 \] Solve for \(x\)\[ x = \dfrac{1.5}{0.32} \] \[ x = 4.6875 \; \text{kg} \] Round appropriately
The manure required is about 4.69kg per hectare.

Thus, 4.69kg of manure per hectare will meet the phosphorus requirement.

Weathering is the breakdown of rocks into smaller particles through physical factors like temperature changes, water, and wind, as well as chemical reactions such as oxidation and hydrolysis. Unlike erosion, which involves transportation of particles, weathering focuses only on the disintegration and decomposition of rocks in place.

Soils develop from the weathering of rocks. These rocks are broken down into smaller particles, which later form sand, silt, and clay fractions. Thus, rock is the true parent material of soil because it is the original source from which soil particles derive.

Sprinkler irrigation has several benefits: it can be automated for efficiency, it is portable and suitable for various fields, and it allows controlled application of water. However, the main disadvantage is that it may be complex or expensive for local farmers to adopt, making it less accessible in rural communities.

Newspapers are relatively cheap, portable, and do not require electricity for use, making them useful teaching tools in agricultural extension. They often contain pictures that act as visual aids. However, their major limitation is that they are restricted to literate farmers, meaning illiterate ones cannot benefit. This makes restriction to a few literate farmers a disadvantage rather than an advantage.

Price elasticity of demand measures how sensitive the quantity demanded of a good is to changes in its price. It quantifies whether demand increases or decreases proportionately when prices change. Unit elasticity and perfect elasticity are specific cases, while relative elasticity is not a standard economic term in this context. Therefore, the correct concept is price elasticity of demand.

Factors that affect the supply of agricultural produce include technology, cost of production, and prices of the commodity. Technology improves production efficiency and output, while changes in production cost directly influence supply levels. Prices of commodities also affect how much farmers are willing to supply. Fixed cost, however, remains constant irrespective of production level and does not directly influence supply changes.

The abomasum is the true stomach of ruminants where digestive juices such as hydrochloric acid and enzymes are secreted. This is the site of chemical digestion, unlike the rumen, reticulum, and paunch, which mainly aid in microbial fermentation and mechanical breakdown of feed. The secretion of digestive juices makes the abomasum similar to the monogastric stomach.