Perception of farmers on Cashew Nut Marketing in Selected Local Government Areas of Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on the perception of cashew farmers about cashew nut marketing in selected local government areas of Kwara state, Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to identify the sources of information as regards cashew nut marketing, determined the various marketing outlets available, and evaluated the contributions of cashew nut marketing to farmers' household among others. Questionnaire was used to obtain information from 120 respondents. Findings show thatmajority of the respondentsweremale (78.3%),married (86.7%) and had farming experience within the range of 21 years (60.0%).Many of the farmers had farm size below 5ha (56.7%). Major source of information to the marketers in the study area was through family and friends (71.7%) while major marketing outlets available to the farmers were the middle men (58.3%). The major challenge to cashew nut marketing was unstable prices (95%). Respondents' age (r=0.484), educational qualification (r=0.568), and farming experience (r=0.356) were significantly correlated to the contributions of cashew nut marketing to the farmers.The study concluded that the farmers derived a lot of benefits from cashew nutsmarketing and uses in the household. Therefore, the study recommended that government should give priority to the establishment of a proper marketing channel and price control regulation for cashew farmers to prevent the extortion of middlemen.