ASSESSMENT OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS’ PARTICIPATION IN CASSAVA VALUE ADDITION IN IBARAPA CENTRAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the level of smallholder farmers’ participation in cassava value addition in Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 100 respondents. The data for the study were collected with the use of structured questionnaire ana analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi square and PPMC). The result revealed that television (99.0%) research institutes (83.3%) and fellow cassava processor (80.0%) were the sources of information on cassava valued addition. The results showed that respondents always participate in equipment hiring (x̄= 1.83) and land clearing (x̄=1.76), the smallholder farmers participated in value addition such as garri (x̄ =1.73), animal feed (x̄ = 1.68), cassava flour and ethanol production (x̄ =1.62). Inadequate credit facilities (x̄=1.73), high cost of processing machine (x̄=1.64) and bad road network to the market (x̄=1.59) were the major constraints affecting smallholder farmers’ participation in cassava value addition in the study area. It is concluded that marital status, educational status, age, household size and monthly income were significant since their p-value is greater than 0.050. From the finding it was concluded that farmers group should establish community-based savings and credit schemes that allow young farmers and processors to pool their resources and access credit and also explore credit guarantee schemes that can provide financial backing to young entrepreneurs in the cassava value addition.