Title : Economics of selected processed Bushmeat products among rural households in Agbani agricultural zone,Enugu state, Nigeria
Abstract:
This research examines the economics of selected processed bush meat products among rural households in Agbani agricultural zone, Enugu state, Nigeria. Specifically, it examines the socio-economic effect of bush meat enterprise, the level of employment generation by bush meat enterprise activities, it also examines the various dominant bush meat found in the study area, the employment effect of bush meat enterprise, and the constraints facing bush meat enterprise. Primary data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire from one hundred and twenty respondents but only one hundred and eight (108) respondents were used for the analysis due to errors in twelve of the data collection instrument. Data obtained were analyzed using appropriate econometric and statistical tools. The result of the study revealed that the majority 51.9% were females and are mostly within the age range of 21-30 years accounting for 41.67% of the respondents. The research also revealed that 87.2% of the respondents had formal education, with a mean experience of 10.9 years in bush meat enterprise. Furthermore, the findings of this study showed that the respondents sourced their bush meat from hunters were 47%. The research identified that the major problem encountered in bush meat enterprise in the study area as the seasonality of production. Added to this constraint include a lack of funds, a lack of market, and a limited supply of bush meat. From the findings of this research, it is recommended that there is a need for government and financial institutions to put interest in this sub-sector (bush meat enterprise) so as to increase employment and income generation from bush meat enterprise.
Keywords: Bush meat, hunters, marketers, and employment