ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING LEVEL OF ADOPTION OF SWEETPOTATO VALUE ADDITION BY WOMEN PROCESSORS IN ABIA STATE

Abstract

The study analyzed factors influencing adoption of sweetpotato value addition by women processors in Abia State. Specifically, the study described the socio-economic characteristics of women sweet potato processors; identified sweetpotato value addition techniques practiced by the women;  determined the level of adoption of value addition of sweet potato; determined factors influencing level of adoption of sweet potato value addition, and identified problems against value addition by women processors. Purposive and multistage sampling techniques were adopted for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data obtained. The socio-economic characteristics result showed that the mean age and household size of women were 38.00years and 4.16 persons respectively. The result also showed that cumulatively, 98.75% of female processors in Abia state had one form of formal education or the other. The women adopted sweetpotato chips (3.06), sweetpotato flour (3.00) and sweetpotato meat pie (3.31). The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression estimates of the factors influencing level of adoption of sweetpotato value addition showed that age, education, income, availability of processing equipment, processing experience, extension contact, access to credit, membership of cooperative societies and household size were significant at varying levels. The study recommended that women sweetpotato processors should be empowered to process sweetpotato using modern processing techniques in terms of training on value addition of sweetpotato by extension agents.