Contributions of rice entrepreneurial activities to sustainable livelihood assets of rice farmers in Kwara state, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the contributions of rice entrepreneurial activities to sustainable livelihood assets of rice farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria. A three stage sampling procedure was used to select four hundred respondents. An interview schedule was design to collect primary data. Data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results further showed that most of the respondents participated in production (100%), processing (61.5%), marketing (53.0%) while few (22.3%) participated in transportation to a great extent. Results further showed that financial asset (mean=2.19), and natural assets (safe drinking water and irrigation water) with mean=15.7 and mean=15.4 respectively were the topmost assets accrued by farmers as a result of their participation in rice entrepreneurial activities. The leading constraint to rice entrepreneurial activities was inadequate access to rice processing equipment (mean=15.5). Correlation analysis revealed that age (r =-0.437), household size (r = 0.196) and years of experience (r=-0.459) of farmers indicated significant correlation with the perceived contribution of rice entrepreneurial activities to asset at p≤0.05 level of significance. The study conclude that rice farmers highly participated in rice cultivation, processing and marketing which contributed highly to financial assets of the farmers. This study suggests extension policy to further strengthen the capacity of farmers to adequately acess rice processing equipment in the study area.