Effect of Value- Addition on the Benefits of Women Participation in Cassava Products Marketing in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper focused on the effect of value- addition on the benefits of women participation in cassava products marketing in Cross River State, Nigeria. Data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire from 48 randomly selected respondents. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and marketing margin analysis. The study findings have revealed that more women participate in cassava products marketing than men in the study area. Also, traders involved in garri processing make more gain than those involved in Akpu. The study showed that a total of 26,174 kg of raw cassava was purchased and processed into garri in twenty four months at the total cost of ₦260,988.00. An average of 100kg bag of Akpu was sold for ₦2,398.00. Thus every ₦1.00 invested in garri processing gave a margin of ₦2.39, while every N1.00 invested in Akpu processing gave a margin of ₦1.51. This means that those who trade on garri make about 37% above what the Akpu dealers make in the area within the period under review. The marketing margin for garri against raw cassava purchased from the farmers is 0.62 or 62%, while that of Akpu against raw cassava is 0.22 or 22%. Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were made among others: the traders should be empowered by the different levels of government through grants or loans in order to enhance their capacity. The traders should consider grating their raw cassava before soaking so that the Akpu traders can improve on the realizable quantity of their raw materials after processing.