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Main Article Content
Cost and Return Analyses of Pro-Vitamin A Cassava Production among Smallholder Farmers in Abia State
Abstract
Cassava is an important staple food and cash crop in Nigeria. Its root is rich in starch and contains a significant amount of calcium, phosphorus and vitamins. However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients. Vitamin A deficiency diseases are prevalent in Nigeria, which has led to the bio-fortification of cassava with vitamin A. Vitamin A fortified cassava (yellow root cassava) contains carotenoids that could contribute to reducing vitamin A deficiency. This Paper evaluates the profitability of Pro-vitamin A cassava production in Abia State, Nigeria. The objectives of this research are to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of pro-vitamin A cassava producers; and to estimate the costs and returns to pro-vitamin A cassava production. A multistage random sampling procedure was used to extract data from sixty pro-vitamin A cassava farmers in 2015. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency and percentage were used to analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers while Net Income (NI) analytical model was used to estimate the cost and benefit. The result shows that pro-vitamin A cassava production in Abia State is a high-income-generating business. It is dominated by smallholder-educated female farmers in their active ages with large families and limited access to credit. Adoption of pro-vitamin A cassava in Abia State will improve the well-being of rural farmers and create the desired economic growth.
