Determinants of Socio-Economic Status of Cassava Processing
Entrepreneurs in South-Eastern Nigeria
IKWUAKAM OSCAR TITUS
Department of Agricultural Education
Federal College of Education Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria.
E-mail: ikwuosca@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
South-Eastern
Nigeria is one of the highest cassava producing zones in Nigeria. This
expectedly should be a boost to socio-economic status (SES) of cassava
processing entrepreneurs (CPE) in the area. However, the determinants of CPEs’
SES seem not certain. The study, therefore, examined the determinants of CPEs’ SES
in south-eastern Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting respondents.
Imo and Anambra states were purposively selected due to their prominence in
cassava enterprise. Nine LGAs of 27 LGAs in Imo and 6 LGAs of 21 LGAs in
Anambra states were randomly selected. Systematic sampling procedure was also used to randomly select 20% of
registered CPEs (50, 36) from Imo and Anambra states respectively resulting in
86 entrepreneurs. Data were collected and analyzed using questionnaire
and descriptive statistics, Chi square and regression respectively. Most CPE were
females (87.5%) and having mean age, experience and annual income of 53.33 ±
6.629, 36.87 ± 10.160 and N275771.7 ±
03.17 respectively. Majority (59.3%) had moderate SES. Source
of shop (β = 3.798), benefits derived (β = 7.075), scale of operation (β = 12.006) income (β = 3.120) and experience (β = 1.760)
are top predictors of CPEs’ SES. The study has revealed that the SES of CPE is moderate
and this is not encouraging to attract and sustain popular participation among entrepreneurs.
It is expedient that appropriate intervention mechanism be put in place with
the aim of developing improved processing techniques and reduce the constraints
to cassava processing enterprise.