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Perceived Environmental Effects of Cassava Waste Management on the Residents of Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria


A. O. Ajanaku
O. O. Olayemi
B. A. Oyelami
B. H. Ugege

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the perceived environmental effects of cassava waste management on the residents of Ido Local Government Area (LGA), Edo State. A multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents from four purposively selected communities for this study. A total of 115 structured questionnaires were randomly administered to the selected respondents who are cassava processors residing within the community based on the population of processors in each community to determine their waste management practices. The objectives were addressed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results showed that most (93.0%) cassava processors were females and had primary education as highest (42.6%) level of education. Majority (61.7%) has been living in the vicinity for more than 20 years; thus can be said to have good understanding of the area. No fewer than 80.9% generate over 40kg of cassava peels, with 82.6% discharging more than 100 liters of wastewater into the environment daily. Many (57.4%) noted severe soil mobility in the area, with high erosion of topsoil as reported by 84.3% of the respondents. However, majority disagree with other environmental effects of the waste, while 98.2% and 89.6% indicated that the water bodies and air are not severely polluted respectively. Cassava peels was not considered to be a nuisance to their environment as 93.9% of the respondents sell it off to livestock farmers. The result of the hypothesis showed a P value of 0.101 which is not significant, while considering the relationship between their waste disposal methods and the perceived effects of such on the environment. The findings from this study recommended that educational programs should be made available for the processors on how to properly manage the waste water from cassava by processing it for other purposes and proper channeling of waste water in order to stop further erosion of topsoil in the study area.


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