Analysis of Critical Facilities of Rice Value Chain Actors in Benue and Nasarawa States Nigeria

Analysis of Critical Facilities of Rice Value Chain Actors in Benue and Nasarawa States Nigeria

Aveuya, A.A.1, Unongo, E.A.2 and Bogbenda, A.3
1Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria
2Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.
3Department of Agricultural Economics, Joseph Sarwuan tarka University Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: Unongo, E.A.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51244/IJRSI.2023.10720
Received: 17 June 2023; Accepted: 12 July 2023; Published: 16 August 2023

Abstract: – The study was carried out to specifically to analyse the critical facilities of rice value chain actors in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised all rice value chain actors in the two states. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 320 respondents from the two states. Multi-stage sampling procedure, stratified:-purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used for the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviations were used to analyse the data for the study. It was evident from the study that the pooled mean results indicated that producers’ most critical facilities were planters (97.8%), harvesters (97.2%) and threshers (97.2%) in Benue and Nasarawa States respectively. Sources of foundation seeds (98.7%), supply of foundation seeds (98.4%) and NPK: 27:13:13 (96.2%) were the most critical facilities to input suppliers. Electricity need (91.8%), de-stoners (90.2%) were the critical facilities to processors. Marketers’ value chain actors indicated transportation (74.7%) packaging (70.9%) and storage (63.3%) as their critical facilities in the rice value chain respectively. The study concluded that rice value chain actors are affected by the poor availability of critical facilities needed by the value chain actors in Benue and Nasarawa states. It was recommended that critical facilities should be made available by government for easy access by the various rice value chain actors at subsidized rate for their effective utilization and enhanced performance.

Key words: Facilities; Value chain; Activities

I. Introduction

Farmers have been producing crops for ages through their inherited obsolete production technology from their ancestors and these olden day technologies cannot meet up with the demand of the present day. Rice production faces many challenges like poor communications, weak services and institutional gaps between research, extension and farmers (IRRI, 2015). According to Nwike and Ugumba (2015) majority of rice farmers are poor and with corresponding low production efficiencies.
Training farmers for improved skills on rice value chain performance is important as one of the numerous activities that need to be carried out to sustain production, harvesting, processing, marketing and distribution of the commodity. These in turn enhance self-sufficiency in food production in Nigeria and the World at large. Training on the rice value chain critical facilities or technologies and ensuring the availability of facilities is important and mostly improve the ability of individual rice value chain actor to make his or her activities in rice value added chain more efficient and profitable (Alese, 2014; Iwuchukwu, 2017; and Umar and Omoayena, 2015). Making critical facilities available for value chain actors on rice as well as developing their abilities and attitudes through training towards the effective utilization of such facilities greatly facilitates their technical competence and performance (Odoemenem, 2010).

Capacity building in rice value chain is an important key which enable the rice farmers meet the new quality and safety requirements as well as learning how to manage their production techniques (Bammann, 2007). Efforts by government through capacity building needs of farmers are to create jobs for out teeming youths, increase their value chain addition to their products and enable them have modern equipment, tools, improved seed varieties, agro-chemicals and improved marketing knowledge for production, input supply utilization, processing, marketing and distribution (Ekanem and Inyang, 2013; Umar, Omoayena, 2015; Meron, 2016; and Kagbu, Omokore and Akpoko, 2016). There exist a huge institutional gap between research, extension and the farmers and lack of focus on training which can add value to rice value chain actors from production to consumption in spite of existing critical facilities, hence the need for the study