Department of Forestry Wildlife and Range Management, University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Abstract
This study was carried out to assess the contribution of locust bean seed processing to the household of rural women in Oyo State Nigeria. Means of livelihood, existing processing techniques, level of income, contribution of locust bean and constraints hindering locust bean processing by women in the study area were examined. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 12l women processors as respondents. Questionnaires were administered to the sampled respondents of which 120 were retrieved. The data were subjected to descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics. The results revealed that 33.3%% of processors were between the ages of 51 years and above. Majority (76.7%) of the respondents relied on locust bean processing as means of livelihood. All the respondents used traditional method of processing. The result revealed that there is no significant (p>0.05) relationship between the selected socioeconomic characteristic variables and contributions of locust bean seed processing. The result also showed positive and significant (p<0.05) relationship between livelihood income, perceived constraints and contributions of locust bean seed processing to the household of rural women. Difficult in locust bean processing (35.8%), scarcity of water/flowing river (18.3%) and inadequate capital (11.7%) were reported as most important constraints to locust lean processing in the study area. It was concluded that locust bean processing has the potential to improve the processors’ household economy thus allowing agricultural development and sustainability provided the constraints are adequately addressed.Keywords: Locust bean, Processing, Rural Women, Oyo State, Livelihoo
