Effects of Socioeconomic Constraint on Income of Sweet Potato Processors in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of socioeconomic constraint on the income of sweet potato processors in Kwara State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling techniques was used to select 64 sweet potato processors for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Ordinary least square regression). The results revealed that (68.75%) were male processors. The age of respondents was within the range (30-50) with a mean of 42.13 years. Majority (51.56%) were literate and majority (50%) were married with high family sizes that ranges between 5-10 with mean household size of 5.2. While factors influencing income include sex (-0.6614), occupation (-0.2399) and education (0.5893). The constraints to the income of processors were, bad road, processing cost, inadequate root/tuber and high transportation cost among others. This study concludes that processing activities of sweet potato was gender sensitive as both male and female are key players in processing, labour supply was abundant, basic education of the processors is also a key to increased income. The study recommend that Government and relevant stakeholders should encourage female involvement in sweet potato processing and value-addition, should consider interventions and training of these processors in best practices as vital role, provide infrastructure and basic amenities to help improve sweet potato processing, reduce postharvest losses and enhance food security in the study area.