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Stimulating rural
employment and income for cassava (Manihot sp.)
processing farming households in Oyo State, Nigeria through
policy initiatives
Oluwemimo Oluwasola
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of
Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Osun
State, Nigeria.
E-mail:
oluwemimo_oluwasola@yahoo.com.
Tel:
234-(0)803-727-4784.
Accepted
2 October, 2009 |
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Smallholder agriculture is characterized by underemployment
during off seasons, low-income earnings and severe post
harvest losses. The study thus analyzed the economics of
cassava processing by rural farm households to establish the
socio-economic and policy strategies required to stimulate
rural enterprise. Multistage sampling technique was used to
collect data from 150 respondents using structured
questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, budgetary analysis
and the Cobb Douglas regression function were used to
analyze the collected data. Results revealed that women
constituted 90% of processors and had a mean age of 36
years. Family sizes averaged 9 while the level of education
among the processors was low (e.g. more than 80% did not
read beyond primary school level). The initial capital
invested in the enterprise averaged N10,106.80
($80.85) and came mostly from personal savings. The gross
margin and net income were N329,178.00 and N68,119.00
respectively. The internal rate of return to cassava
enterprise was 1.84 while the benefit-cost ratio was 1.17.
The regression analyses showed that age, experience and size
of enterprise were significant determinants of the
profitability of cassava processing enterprises while age,
experience, level of education and initial capital outlay
were significant determinants of the size of enterprise.
Policy efforts should be geared towards accessing processors
with locally fabricated machines while policy, research and
extension regarding food processing at the rural farm-gate
should be tailored to meet the needs and constraints of
women.
Key words: Appropriate technology, income generation,
off-season, processing, up scaling, rural, underemployment.
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