Income Elasticity from Small Scale Cassava Processing Activities in Surulere Local Government Area, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Cassava is one of the most important cash crops which are grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Cassava is economic plant because it is mostly grown on small farms and it does not require any foreign made equipment or instrument. The price of cassava products is unstable depending on the market demand each year.

Hence, the focus of this project is on determinants of income from small scale cassava processing activities in Surulere local government area Ogbomoso Oyo, State. Multistage random sampling was used to select respondents for the study. First stage was the purposeful selection of Surulere Local Government. Second stage was the random selection of ten Villages in the Local Government Area. The third and final stage is the random and proportionate selection of respondents, who are into cassava processing. In all 100 respondents processor were selected. The result shows that majority of the processors are in the 51-60 age group. This indicates that most of those who engage in cassava processing activities are in the active phase of their lives. Most of the respondents were illiterate (61.8%) and would not be able to make good use of extension information effectiveness. Also, majority of the respondents were married (98%) and assistance will come from their spouses but at the same time responsibilities will be increased and will reduce the processors effectiveness. The regression results reveal that the coefficient of the multiple determinations (R²) is 73%.  In all this study reveals that initial capital, labour cost literacy levels are the major factors determining income from the small scale cassava processor. On the contrary the older a processor are the less productive they become.