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Article History

Received: 24 March 2026

Accepted: 3 June 2026

First Online: 6 June 2026

Declarations

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: All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in strict accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki (as revised and amended, most recently by the 75th WMA General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, October 2024) for research involving human participants. Ethical approval for this research was formally obtained from the Ethics Committee of Akperan Orshi Polytechnic Yandev, Gboko, Benue State (Ref: AOPY/EC/REC/121) at the committee’s meeting held on April 24, 2025 (Meeting No. 62/12). The committee reviewed the study protocol, informed consent procedures, and data handling plans to ensure compliance with established ethical norms. Prior to data collection, all necessary field permissions were obtained from the relevant local authorities in Benue State, Nigeria. Specifically, written approval was secured from the Benue State Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (BNARDA) and the local government area (LGA) chairpersons of the participating LGAs (Gboko, Katsina-Ala, and Ukum). Clinical trial registration: not applicable. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study prior to data collection. Given the varying literacy levels within the study population and to ensure genuine understanding, a multi-faceted consent process approved by the Akperan Orshi Polytechnic Yandev Ethics Committee was employed. All potential participants were adequately informed, in plain language and, where necessary, in the local language, of the study’s aims, methods, anticipated benefits, potential risks, and their rights, including the right to refuse participation or withdraw consent at any time without reprisal. After ensuring that the information was understood, consent was formally documented through either a written signature or, for non-literate participants, a witnessed verbal consent. Additionally, verbal consent was obtained from individual landowners and farm household heads after a full explanation of the survey objectives.

: The authors confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors, and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. All authors agree to publication in the journal. The authors state that the work presented in this article is original and has not been published elsewhere. The authors accept full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work.

: The authors declare no competing interests.