An unusual growth is developed with some trees. A bunch of some of their twigs is bending in the downward direction and twigs are stretched downward. Bending of twigs is due to additional gravitational force acting on these twigs. This additional gravitational force is because of presence of underground water stream. The direction of plane in which the twigs are bending indicates the ground surface line where underground water stream is present.

The study examined the economics of snail production in Edo state of Nigeria. The socio-economic characteristics of the respond-ents cost and returns and factors affecting revenue generation in snail production were the specific areas of focus of the study. Snow balling sampling technique was adopted to identify a total of 95 snail farmers in the study area and this formed the sample size for the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, budgetary and regression analyses. The results indicated that the respondents had average stock size of 630 snails. The business of snail production required low capital investment and was highly profitable with gross margin and net profit per snail of N68.45 and N63.44 respectively. The results further showed that stock size, labor cost and educational level were the significant factors influencing revenue from snail production. They all correlated positively with the revenue and explained about 79% of the variation in the revenue (R2 = 0.785). It was concluded that since snail production required low capital investment, low income earners could comfortably embark on it; and in view of the high profit level of the business, it could be a veritable enterprise for uplifting the living standard of its producers and advance the economy of the nation.

Humic acid (HA) is a principal component of humic substances, which are the major organic constituents of soil, peat, coal, many upland streams, dystrophic lakes and ocean water. HA has an important impact on a variety of environment processes. This work aimed to characterize the HA extracted and purified from the Candiota coalfield (Brazil) by visible (VIS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), inductively coupled plasma absorption emission (ICP-AES), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopies, thermogra-vimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of these analyses showed that Can-diota HA presents a high degree of humification, which is considered to be type A with a turbostratic structure. The elemental analysis (EDX/ ICP-AES) indicated the presence of low concentrations of heavy metals.

The agricultural sector which contributes between 20-50% of gross domestic product in Africa and employs about 60% of the population is greatly affected by climate change impacts. Agricultural productivity and food prices are expected to rise due to this impact thereby worsening the food insecurity and poor nutritional health conditions in the continent. Incidentally, the capacity in the continent to adapt is very low. Addressing these challenges will therefore require a holistic and integrated adaptation framework hence this study. A total of 360 respondents selected through a multi-stage random sampling technique participated in the study that took place in Southern Nigeria from 2008-2011. Results showed that majority of respondents (84%) were aware that some climate change characteristics such as uncer-tainties at the onset of farming season, extreme weather events including flooding and droughts, pests, diseases, weed infestation, and land degradation have all been on the increase. The most significant effects of climate change that manifested in the area were declining soil fertility and weed infestation. Some of the adaptation strategies adopted by farmers include increased weeding, changing the timing of farm operations, and processing of crops to reduce post-harvest losses. Although majority of respondents were aware of government policies aimed at protecting the environment, most of them agreed that these policies were not being effectively implemented. A mutually inclusive framework comprising of both indigenous and modern techniques, processes, practices and technologies was then developed from the study in order to guide farmers in adapting to climate change effects/impacts.