Abstract
Black soap production is an indigenous income generating enterprise that confers self-sufficiency on producing household and capable of reducing poverty among rural women. The study therefore, assessed women’s involvement in black soap production in Osun State, Nigeria. It specifically described the demographic characteristics, determined the profitability of the enterprise and its contribution to their livelihood, community attitude, and identified constraints limiting women involvement in the enterprise. Snowball sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Interview schedule was used to collect primary data from the respondents while descriptive and correlation statistical tools were used for the data analysis. Findings revealed that majority (90 %) of the respondents were married with mean age of 48.9 years. Majority (79.2%) acquired black soap processing skills from their parents. The results of gross margin analysis also revealed that TR, TVC and GM were ₦12,617.50, ₦10,695.80, and ₦1,921.70, respectively. The results also indicated that black soap contributed mostly to feeding (64.2 %), clothing (58.8 %) and housing (41.2 %). Above half (52.2 %) of the respondents were highly involved in black soap production activities while 81.7 % indicated favourable community attitude towards the enterprise. Also, scarcity of water during dry season (mean=2.78) and inadequate finance (mean=2.28) were the major constraints limiting women involvement in the enterprise. In conclusion, Ministry of women affairs, Nigeria should give considerable attention to address the identified constraints in order to enhance the development of the enterprise.
Highlights
Calotropis gigantea (Apocynaceae) is drought resistant, salt tolerant plant grows on road sides and coastal area
The objectives of this study were to determine a suitable concentration of MS medium for in vitro seed germination, identify the best explant for shoot production, determine the best concentration of Benzyl amino purine (BAP) for shoot regeneration, determine the proper age of the plantlets to collect the ex-plants, determine the best concentration of IBA for root induction, and determine effect of Agar and Corn flour for growth and development of shoots
Determination of suitable concentration of MS medium for in vitro seed germination Germination percentage and number of days to germinate were evaluated after inoculation
Summary
Calotropis gigantea (Apocynaceae) is drought resistant, salt tolerant plant grows on road sides and coastal area. Calotropis gigantea grows up to 8-10 m, with sessile leaves and white to purple unscented flowers, while Calotropis procera grows upto 3-6 m with sub sessile leaves and white to pink scented flowers. Among those two species, Calotropis gigantea is native to Sri Lanka (Barberyn Ayurveda Resorts and University of Ruhuna, 2009). Calotropis gigantea is native to Sri Lanka (Barberyn Ayurveda Resorts and University of Ruhuna, 2009) It has many uses such as; extract chemicals to use as medicine, floricultural industry as a potted plant, in landscaping, fiber production, mulching purposes, sweetmeat production, paper pulp production, component in gun powder and fireworks. Mosquito repellent efficacy of flower extracts of the species is already noted. (Dhivya et al, 2013; Motaleb et al, 2011)
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