Assessment of commercialization of food crops among farming households in Southwestern, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the commercialization of food crops among farming household in Osun state by administering questionnaires to 99 food crop farmers. Furthermore, descriptive statistics, Household Commercialization Index (HCl) and Linear Regression analysis were used for data analysis. Results of field data analyses  revealed that food crops farmers carry out full commercialization in the study area with Household Commercialization Index at 51.7% and  about 54.6% of the respondent are at full commercialization. Also 79% of the respondents are male with 56% within the age range of 50 to 69 years and 53% having a household size between the range 4 to 7. However, the respondents travelled an average distance of 17.5km from farm to market. The study also revealed that usage of modern machinery and storage facilities, are some of the major determinants that contribute to the commercialization of food crops. With these, it is recommended that, farmers need to be provided with good storage facilities to ensure that food crops produced in excess quantities are stored in order to make it available throughout the year at an affordable prices. There is need to also sensitize the farmers on the benefits that can be derive from commercialization of food crops.

Key Words: Commercialization, Food crop, Agriculture, Regression, Nigeria