Determinants of Value Addition Initiatives Use by Fish Farmers in Kwara and Kogi States, North Central Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the activities of fish farmers as it relates to their use of value addition initiatives in fish farming and highlights the determinants of use of these initiatives in Kwara and Kogi States, Nigeria. A well-structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from two hundred and twenty respondents selected using a two-stage sampling technique. The findings indicated that the fish farmers fall into the economically active age group with a mean age of 44.1 years, majority (75.5%) were males, married (78.2%) and had one level of formal education or the other (83.1%). The respondents value addition initiatives use profile was still very low among the respondents and t-Test analysis revealed that there was no significant difference (even at 5 percent level of significance) in the level of use of value addition initiatives among the two constituent States of Kwara and Kogi. Logistic regression model of determinants of value addition initiatives use revealed that characteristics of household that were more likely to use value addition initiatives include the younger fish farmers; with larger household size; higher educational qualification;  higher percentage  contribution of fish farm income to total income and those with more years of fish farming experience. The study recommends an urgent need to package robust training programmes and advisory services for fish farmers by extension and other stakeholders and amelioration of the highlighted severe constraints in order to enhance their use of value added initiatives thereby making them to be able to tap into all the available potentials that exist in the aquaculture sector.