Browsing by Author "GODWIN, Rosemary"

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    COMMERCIALISATION OF UNDER-UTILISED EDIBLE INSECTS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA
    (2020) GODWIN, Rosemary
    Under-utilised edible insects’ species have enormous potentials for entrepreneurial opportunities in Nigeria. In addition, they provide an essential component of human diet for sustainable livelihood. xii Formulating sound policies on harnessing the full potentials of under-utilised edible insects requires a deep knowledge of their current commercialisation level. This study examined the extent of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects in Benue State. The objectives of the study were to: (i) enumerate under-utilised edible insects harvested by the rural households in the study area; (ii) determine the level of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects among rural households; (iii) examine factors affecting the extent of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects; (iv) evaluate the returns generated from the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects; and (v) determine the contribution of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects to the livelihood status of rural households. The study was a cross sectional survey using two-stage sampling procedure. Primary data were obtained from 156 rural households that were involved in the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects in Benue State. The data collection using a structured interview schedule started in August, 2018 and ended in May, 2019. First stage of the sampling procedure involved the purposive selection of 5% out of the 368 rural communities in Benue State. The second stage involved a snowball sampling of rural households. Household Commercialisation Index, descriptive statistics, Tobit regression model, marketing margin and Ordinary Least Square regression model were employed to analyse the data. The findings of the study were that: (i) the proportion of crickets, termites, caterpillars, grasshoppers and palm weevils harvested by the rural households in the study area were 30.13%, 44.87%, 12.18%, 5.13% and 7.13%, respectively; (ii) the majority (81%) of the rural households commercialised most of the under-utilised edible insects harvested at 85.19%, 81.89%, 81.60%, 85.12%, and 85.92% extent of commercialisation for cricket, termite, caterpillar, grasshopper and palm weevil respectively; (iii) the factors affecting the extent of the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects using Tobit regression model were gender (p = 0.1), marital status (p = 0.05), years of schooling of household head (p = 0.1), annual income (p = 0.01), and household size (p = 0.01); (iv) a total of 138 kg of crickets, 104 kg of termites, 102 kg of caterpillars, 103 kg of grasshoppers and 122 kg of palm weevils were commercialised with the net returns of ₦47,931.00, ₦41,106.00, ₦40,461.00, ₦42,063.00 and ₦44,917.00 per season respectively; and (v) commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects significantly enhanced the livelihood status of the rural households (R2 = 67.4%). Other significant variables of the Ordinary Least Square regression result were primary occupation of the household head (p = 0.1), distance of home to nearest village market (p = 0.05), and amount of credit received by the household head (p = 0.05). The study concluded that commercialisation of harvested under-utilised edible insects has positive impact on the livelihood status of the rural households in the study area. The study recommended that farmers be encouraged to commercialise more of these under-utilised edible insect.