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Poverty Alleviation On Plantain And Banana Farmers
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Banana is the world’s second (2nd) most
important fruit crop after oil palm. It is grown in 130 countries
worldwide. World production stands at 71 million metric tonnes while
plantain is grown in 52 countries with world production of 33million
metric tonnes (FAO, 2004). However, no African country is ranking among
the top 10 countries for banana production in the world wide eight (8)
African countries are among the top world producers of plantain with
Nigeria ranking as the fifth highest producers of the crop (FAO, 2004).
Presently, plantains are of less importance than banana in terms of
world trade in the genus but in West and central Africa about 70 million
people are estimated to derive more than one quarter of their food
energy requirement from plantain (Robbison, 1996).
Acceptable to
Nigerians, plantain and banana is a versatile food in the kitchen as
well as raw materials for many popular delicacies and snacks. This
reason plus the growing population of Nigeria leads to an enormous
increase in demand for the crop in the consumers market. Among plantain
products are plantain flower, chips, beer and ethanol. The ripe ones are
sliced and fried in oil as “dodoâ€. Over ripe ones are both compacted
and fried in oil as “dodo ikire†or mixed with plantain flour to make
“ekuruâ€, a delicious local dish. In some parts of Nigeria, selling of
roasted plantain “boli†and fried whole fruits “ogene†are both thriving
business that provide job opportunities for thousand young girls and
women. Ogazi (1996)
The unripe ones can be fried in vegetable oil to
obtain plantain chips known as “pekere†in Nigeria. Plantain chips are
the most popular plantain products in Nigeria. These are sold on the
streets or by small and medium scale companies which deliver them to
super markets. The peels of plantain are used as animal feed for
livestock, manure and mulching materials. The peels constitute valuable
fodder for goats and sheep. Ogazi(1996)
Banana can be eaten when
ripe, it is used to make banana juice. Some people eat the fruits with
groundnut, rice or to drink garri. Apart from being useful as staple
food for human being, it can be used in preparation of various products
as juice, jam, soft drink etc. it contains carbohydrate, calcium, iron,
fat, phosphourus, vitamin A, B1, B2, and C (Ngeze and Gathumbi, 2004,
Anochilli and Tindall, 1986). All these attributes of the product offer
it a high demand in the market. It can thus be seen that there is a
large market for the products of plantain and banana farmers.
Agriculture
is considered the core to the anti poverty effort (World Bank, 2005),
so it is only natural to expect that engagement in a productive business
like plantain and banana farming will yield income and thus further the
goal of poverty alleviation for the farmers.
1.1STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Nigeria
is one of the most resource endowed nations in the world. But
socio-economically, Nigerians are also among the poorest in the world
(Etim et al., 2009). The poverty situation in Nigeria is quite
disturbing considering the vast human and physical resources that the
country is endowed with (Okunmadema et al., 2005). Many initiatives and
projects have been under taken in order to reduce poverty; the reduction
of poverty is difficult challenge facing most developing countries
where the average majority of the population is considered poor.
According to Ogwumike (1998), evidence in Nigeria shows that the number
of those in poverty has continued to increase from 29% in 1980, to 46%
in 1985, it declined slightly to 42% in 1992, and increased very sharply
to 67% in 1996. By 1996, estimates had it that more than 70% of
Nigerians live in poverty.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study focused on poverty alleviation among plantain and banana farmers in Ovia South North East Local Government Area of Edo State. It answered the following questions (i) what is the socio-economic characteristics of plantain and banana,(ii) what is the perception of farmers on the profitability of plantain and banana production in their area, (iii) what is the constraint faced by plantain and banana farmers (iv) what is the value addition of plantain and banana among respondentsThe data we ... Continue reading---
