The study was designed to investigate into the level of cassava commercialization, extent of gender effects and other factors on household commercialization index （HCI） of cassava in both rural and peri-urban areas ...The study was designed to investigate into the level of cassava commercialization, extent of gender effects and other factors on household commercialization index （HCI） of cassava in both rural and peri-urban areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The study used a stratified random sampling technique to select 50 cassava farmers each from Etche and Ekwerre LGAs of the state （i.e. 100 farmers in all）. A set of structured questionnaire and interview schedule was used to retrieve information from the farmers. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, Chow test and truncated regression analysis model based on Maximum Likelihood derived from Censored Normal or TOBIT approach. It was found that significant difference exist in the HC1 of rural farmers （49%） and peri-urban （40%）. The drivers of HCI varied across the areas but on the whole it was noted that gender, farm size, distance to market, labour, farming experience, price of cassava and access to market information signiftcantly influenced the probability of expanding the scale of commercialization of cassava in the area. It was recommended that government and interested bodies should give priority to women in designing and implementing cassava commercialization programmes policies that will improve farmers access to land and also help build on capacities of the farmers to commercialize such as access to extension service, establishment of market information service （MIS）, development of market and transport infrastructure were recommended too.展开更多
文摘The study was designed to investigate into the level of cassava commercialization, extent of gender effects and other factors on household commercialization index （HCI） of cassava in both rural and peri-urban areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The study used a stratified random sampling technique to select 50 cassava farmers each from Etche and Ekwerre LGAs of the state （i.e. 100 farmers in all）. A set of structured questionnaire and interview schedule was used to retrieve information from the farmers. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, Chow test and truncated regression analysis model based on Maximum Likelihood derived from Censored Normal or TOBIT approach. It was found that significant difference exist in the HC1 of rural farmers （49%） and peri-urban （40%）. The drivers of HCI varied across the areas but on the whole it was noted that gender, farm size, distance to market, labour, farming experience, price of cassava and access to market information signiftcantly influenced the probability of expanding the scale of commercialization of cassava in the area. It was recommended that government and interested bodies should give priority to women in designing and implementing cassava commercialization programmes policies that will improve farmers access to land and also help build on capacities of the farmers to commercialize such as access to extension service, establishment of market information service （MIS）, development of market and transport infrastructure were recommended too.
