Willingness of snail consumers to choose snail production as livelihoods in Ibadan Southwest Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Snails are common in the rainforest region especially during the rainy season, but its population in the wild is decreasing due to human and environmental activities. This affect quantity available for consumption and it prompts the reason to encourage snail production. The study examined snail consumer’s willingness to choose snail production as means of livelihoods. Snowball sampling technique was used to select 120 consumers. Data were obtained through questionnaires and analysed using descriptive and correlation analyses. The result shows that many (60%) of the respondents were male, 48.7% were married with an average income of ₦ 78,983.64 and 37 years of age. Level of snail consumption was high (63.4%) and more than 50% were willing to choose snail production as a means of livelihood. Meanwhile, poor supply of feeding materials (43.5%) and inadequate skills in snail rearing (39.1%) were perceived as major constraints. Correlation result shows significant relationship between age ( r = 0.346, p < 0.05), level of snail consumption ( r = 0.200, p < 0.05) and willingness to choose snail production as means of livelihoods. The study concluded that people that consume more snails were willing to choose snail production. It is recommended that concerned agencies for capacity building should consider training people especially snail consumers in snail production and provide palliative resources to overcome challenges in snail production for sustainability and transformation of the agricultural system. Keywords: consumers, willingness to choose, snail production, constraints and livelihoods