ABSTRACT

 The study investigated the training needs by the farmers, and their perception on economic processing of cassava flour in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State. Five research questions guided the study and one null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was made up of five hundred and twenty four (524) farmers; Comprising two hundred and twenty four (224) from Uhie and three hundred (300) from Agalaba in Obingwa Local Government. A total of two hundred and sixty two (262) farmers were selected for the study irrespective of gender or clan, representing 50% of the study population, using simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was segmented into two (2) sections A&B. Section 'A' obtained personal data from the respondents and section 'B' comprises of Twenty five (25) items. The instrument was face validated by three experts; in educational measurement and evaluation, educational psychology and agricultural education. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Cronbach Alpha statistics to obtain a reliability index of 0.75. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the null hypothesis. Findings revealed that cassava high carbohydrate content and low expenditure elasticity provide greater proportion of energy for low-income households than any other food item, hence combating human hunger among adults and infants alike and therefore will remain a pillar of food security for the citizenry. The result also shows that economic benefits of cassava flour processing in Obingwa Local Government Area among other things include: improvement in the economic (market) value of cassava products, employment opportunity, source of revenue and production of High Quality Cassava Yield (HQCF).The result also shows that financial incentive by Government could be more effective in improving cassava fanning and cassava flour processing in the study area. However, cassava flour processing aided in poverty alleviation and unemployment as well as boasting Nigeria's Economy to a very large extent in the study area. The findings further revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between the selected personal characteristics of cassava processors and their training needs. The study however recommended that, extension packages for cassava processing should incorporate improved technologies of cassava value-added products such as chips, pellet, starch and snacks for increased productivity in the cassava sub-sector. Government through formulation of appropriate policies should help stabilize the prices of relevant processing equipment to encourage farmers and processors in their respective enterprises.