One of the Millennium Development Goals is expansion of access to safe and reliable water sources to all by 2015. Rural areas in Nigeria are characterized with lack of access to potable water which has contributed adversely to public health and welfare of the rural dwellers. Concerted efforts have been made by government to improve access to safe drinking water. This study was therefore carried out to examine willingness to pay for potable water by rural households. A multistage sampling method was used to obtain a sample size of 107 respondents for the study. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression model were used to analyze the data. The respondents were mainly male, married with mean household size of four and mean age of 44 years showing that a good proportion of the sampled respondents were in their economic active age. Community well and streams were the most common water sources while none of the households had access to piped water. The Mean Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for water from safe sources was found to be N150 (0.91$)/20litres. Results also revealed that educational status, household monthly income, quality of water, reliability of water, connection charges, and distance to water source are the significant factors that influence the probability of households' willingness to pay for potable water. Therefore, in designing improved water supply system and services for rural areas, water service providers must ensure reliable service, improved quality water and proximity to the source.

Every country that is industrialized today passed through agrarian era. In fact, agricultural sector still remains the backbone of the industrial sector. In most developing nations, foreign trade is very central to all facets of economic growth and development which include agriculture. In view of this, the study examined the impact of foreign trade on the growth of agricultural output. In the process, other determinant was also examined. This includes population growth. The study used annual time series data from 1978 to 2008, obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and Newey-West standard error regression model were used to analyse the data. The correlation analysis showed that there is existence of strong relationship between the variables. Results also revealed that petroleum export, food import and population growth rate were the significant factors that influence the growth of agricultural output in Nigeria. The growth of agricultural output was significantly increased by petroleum export and population growth rate but was reduced by food import. It is recommended that the government should introduce suitable foreign food and non-food trade policies and programmes that will positively impact the growth of agricultural output in Nigeria.