Socio-Economic Characteristics Of Snail Farmers, Consumers And Sellers In Selected Zones Of Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP)

Abstract

The socio-economic characteristic of snail farmers in Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) was evaluated in two out of the four zones that were available. The two zones selected were Ibadan/Ibarapa and Oyo zones, to determine the factors related to snail production, consumption and marketing in the state. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to obtain a representative sample of one hundred and twenty respondents of the Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP) comprising both farmers and consumers. A snowball sampling technique was used to obtain sixty (60) snail sellers each from the two selected markets, making 120 snail sellers.
The data for this study were obtained through systematic sampling. Structured questionnaires and scheduled farm visits. Three sets of questionnaires were employed. The first set targeted the snail farmers, the second, consumers' consumption pattern while the third set of questionnaire targeted the sellers. The data were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis (chi square and regression) after sorting and scoring.
Most of the farmers (30.5%) were between 21 – 29 years of age, while most consumers (33.5%) are within the age group 30 – 39 years. Majority of the farmers and consumers were males (75.0% and 60.2% respectively). About twenty seven percent of the farmers (27.8%) had Higher National Diploma, 20.8% consumers had secondary education and 18.7% had the National Certificate of Education (NCE). Relationship between snail farmers' demographic characteristic and their production levels was significant (P < 0.05). While the relationship between snail consumers' demographic characteristic and their consumption levels showed no significant difference (P > 0.05).
Distribution of number of snails in farmers' farms indicated that 34.7% had less than 300 snails on their farm while 31.9% had between 301 – 600 snails. Distribution of snail consumers according to their level of consumption in a month revealed that 68.1% of the snail consumers interviewed eat snails between 1 – 10 times in a month, whereas, very few (3.5%) eat snails up to 40 times in a month. From the list of 17 constraints, 10 were identified by snail farmers as factors limiting their levels of snail production. Likewise, out of the nine constraints listed as factors limiting snail consumption among respondents, seven were identified by snail consumers as factors limiting their levels of consumption.
The snail sellers interviewed identified only seven out of the twelve factors listed as limiting snail marketing. High procurement cost from snail farmers (73.3%) was the major constraining factor. Based on the findings it can be concluded that most of the respondents were generally male except among snail marketers. All respondents were generally educated; only few of them did not have western education. It was recommended that timely and regular trainings, seminars, workshops on new findings about snail production should be conducted for snail farmers and other interested people.


Keywords: Socio-economic characteristics, Snail farmers, Snail consumers, OYSADEP

Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol. 4 (2) 2006: pp. 68-78