Cocoa, Palm Tree, and Cassava Plantations among Smallholder Farmers: Toward Policy and Technological Efficiencies for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development in Southern Nigeria

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.If there is indeed a causal relationship in the article, corresponding verifiable research and citations should be cited.

2. It is possible to merge closely related paragraphs.

3. As mentioned in the article, for example, "according to research," corresponding citations must be attached and cannot be empty words without evidence.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Avoid using overly subjective expressions and carefully consider conjunctions

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the enclosed file for your reference.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Exploring non-oil economies such as cocoa, palm, and cassava and linking policies and agricultural technologies to maximize agricultural productivity for sustainable socio-economic development is critical for the socio-economic development of the West African country of Nigeria. Although the research has a certain novelty, the paper also has several deficiencies:

 

1. It is recommended to provide more quantitative data and charts to support the point of view of the paper and to optimize the charts to conduct an in-depth discussion of the meaning and impact of the results.

2. In the abstract section, the importance and innovativeness of the research should be clearly pointed out.

3. The introduction provides a more detailed review of the current situation of cocoa, palm, and cassava cultivation by smallholder farmers in southern Nigeria. It is recommended to provide some data and statistics to support your argument and cite relevant literature to support your point of view.

4. The article mentioned the use of systematic literature review and content analysis methods but did not elaborate on the specific search strategies and analysis methods. Please provide more information about how you selected and screened the literature and how you conducted the content analysis.

5. Please ensure that the article's structure is clear, including the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion sections. The content of each part of the article should be closely related, with appropriate transitions and connectors.

6. It is recommended to discuss the consistency, differences, and important findings between your research results and the existing literature, and explore possible explanations, limitations, and future research directions.

7. The article lacks a review of the current literature on sustainable and smallholder agriculture. It is recommended to provide the latest research on sustainable agricultural practices, policies, and technologies and connect it with the research content of this article.

8. There are some of the latest research papers on Sustainability Socio-Economic and Agricultural Transformation and Innovative Policy. It is recommended to read and cite (if applicable) what is helpful to the revision.

--Chaaban, F., El Khattabi, J. & Darwishe, H. Accuracy Assessment of ESA WorldCover 2020 and ESRI 2020 Land Cover Maps for a Region in Syria. 

--Akinwumiju, A.S., Ajisafe, T. & Adelodun, A.A. Airborne Particulate Matter Pollution in Akure Metro City, Southwestern Nigeria, West Africa: Attribution and Meteorological Influence. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the attached file for your reference.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.Please clarify the contributions, why this method is important?
2. Some future directions should be pointed out in the conclusion.

3.Figures are of low quality.

4. materials and methods are vague and weak.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The authors must improve the readability of the document.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the attached file for your reference.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

18

(SLR) cum content analysis of secondary sources or relevant literatures whereby six themes were identified. This is not well written. Should it be "using content analysis..."   42 evolvement of Cocoa, palm trees and cassava Be consistent in use of upper and lower case. It would also be helpful to include botanical names.   109 This paper therefore aims at bridging this gap by exploring policy and technology for agricultural efficiency in the country, an overview of cocoa, palm tree and cassava plantations in Nigeria, cocoa, palm tree and cassava plantations socio-economic development, smallholder farmers versus food security in Nigeria, implications of the study, conclusion and suggestions are presented. Each part is explained in the subsequent sub-headings.    134 CITATION NEEDED  It should be reiterated that literature acknowledges that plantations of cocoa, palm tree for production of palm oil and cassava can drastically reduce poverty and unemployment among smallholder farmers in the society.   172 REMOVE "Thus,"   MULTIPLE LINES Overuse of the word "Onwards". Not really necessary in scholarly writing.   678 and others in section Need a space between the number and text "1.That"   NOTES: Analysis, results, conclusions, and recommendations all seem to be accurate and based upon what is normally completed in a systematic literature review. However, there is no way to quantify that the review was completed using an accepted model since details were not provided other than what it was.  Comments on the Quality of English Language

Without more specific details of how the systematic literature review was implemented and how the data was analyzed, it is impossible to accept the manuscript for publication. 

Based upon the recommendations and conclusions, it is very apparent that a thorough systematic literature review was completed but without a detailed  explanation, the information cannot be validated.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the attached file for your reference,

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have made a lot of efforts to improve the quality of the manuscript, and the quality of the paper has been greatly improved. However, the author did not make point-to-point revisions and replies.  The paper also has several deficiencies. It is recommended that the author take the reviewers' comments seriously and respond to the revisions point by point.

 

1. It is recommended to provide more quantitative data and charts to support the point of view of the paper and to optimize the charts to conduct an in-depth discussion of the meaning and impact of the results.

2. In the abstract section, the importance and innovativeness of the research should be pointed out.

3. The introduction provides a more detailed review of the current situation of cocoa, palm, and cassava cultivation by smallholder farmers in southern Nigeria. It is recommended to provide some data and statistics to support your argument and cite relevant literature to support your point of view.

4. The article mentioned the use of systematic literature review and content analysis methods but did not elaborate on the specific search strategies and analysis methods. Please provide more information about how you selected and screened the literature and how you conducted the content analysis.

5. Please ensure that the article's structure is clear, including the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion sections. The content of each part of the article should be closely related, with appropriate transitions and connectors.

6. It is recommended to discuss the consistency, differences, and important findings between your research results and the existing literature, and explore possible explanations, limitations, and future research directions.

7. The article lacks a review of the current literature on sustainable and smallholder agriculture. It is recommended to provide the latest research on sustainable agricultural practices, policies, and technologies and connect it with the research content of this article.

8. There are some of the latest research papers on Sustainability Socio-Economic and Agricultural Transformation and Innovative Policy. It is recommended to read and cite (if applicable) what is helpful to the revision.

--Chaaban, F., El Khattabi, J. & Darwishe, H. Accuracy Assessment of ESA WorldCover 2020 and ESRI 2020 Land Cover Maps for a Region in Syria. 

--Akinwumiju, A.S., Ajisafe, T. & Adelodun, A.A. Airborne Particulate Matter Pollution in Akure Metro City, Southwestern Nigeria, West Africa: Attribution and Meteorological Influence. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the revised copy of our article.

Thank you very much for your support and cooperation.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Although changes were made, the key issue is that that methodology is still not clearly defined. How can someone validate the process if the process that was used is never shared?

Line 637. This is a new section added to the manuscript. It should be in the review of literature section and significantly reduced.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Again, there are TOO MANY conjunctive adverbs. They are not necessary and nearly all should be removed.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the enclosed file of  our revised article for your consideration. 

Thank you very much for your support and cooperation.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have made sufficient changes to the methodology to better understand the methods uses, analysis processes, and recommendations.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Kindly find the revised copy of my manuscript for your consideration.

Thank you very much for your support and kindness.

Regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx