Awareness and Utilization of Cocoyam Value Addition Technologies by Farmers in South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the level of awareness and utilization of cocoyam value addition technologies among farmers in South-East Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to examine some selected socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, ascertain level of awareness of cocoyam value addition technologies among the respondents and determine the extent of use of cocoyam value addition technologies among the farmers in the study area. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in the selection of 480 respondents. Data were collected with the use of questionnaire and focus group discussion and later analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics like frequency distribution and ordinary least square regression model. Major findings revealed that majority of the respondents (97.7%) had low awareness on the cocoyam value addition technologies. The result also indicated that out of the 7 technologies disseminated to the farmers, only one, preparing of cocoyam as soup thickener (x ?=3.62) had a high mean score. Therefore the study concluded that awareness and utilization level of the respondents were poor and recommends massive campaign and re-training of the farmers in the study area.