Small-holder rice farmers’ perception of attitude of middlemen towards rice value addition in Ogun state, Nigeria

Abstract

Value addition to rice as well as the contributions of middlemen in rice production are major drives that determine the quality and quantity of rice demanded for by consumer. This study focused on the perception of rice farmers on the attitude of middlemen on value addition in rice production in Ogun State. A total number of 181 respondents were used for the study. A multi stage sampling procedure was adopted to select farmers from major rice producing areas in the three senatorial districts of Ogun State. Information was retrieved with the use structured questionnaire and described with the use of frequency count, percentages and mean. The personal characteristics of the respondents shows that, there were more male smallholder rice farmers than their female counterpart in the study area with 63.1% and 36.9% male and female farmers, respectively. Also, higher percentage of the respondents are in their active age, as just 22.7% were above 36years. Most of the respondents are married (62.4%), also, more of the smallholder farmers had their HND/B.Sc. level as their highest educational certificate (34.8%). The study found out that smallholder rice farmers are mostly of the opinion that middlemen believed that only large-scale producers can add value to rice production, with a mean score of 3.74. Also, lack of fund as well as lack of government incentives for middlemen are perceived as the greatest constraints to value addition with a mean score of 1.45 and 1.43, respectively. The study recommends that government should assist smallholder farmers in aspect of funding for them to be involved in value addition so that their products can command good market prices.