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CAP 2013 reform: consistency between agricultural challenges and measures
47-55Views:181The latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has just been accepted, identifying important challenges for EU agriculture but proposing only limited changes to the previous CAP. Now it is time for the implementation of the new measures. However, from a theoretical point of view, it seems that the CAP can hardly meet the challenges it faces due to the inconsistencies between the predefined challenges and the measures proposed to meet them. The aim of the paper is to analyse the consistency between the challenges of European agriculture and the policy measures aimed at meeting them. It seems that not all measures are consistent with the challenges.
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A Value chain analysis of Sesame (Sesame Indicum L.) in South Omo Zone, Southern Ethiopia
Views:242Sesame is the main cash crop in Ethiopia and it is mainly produced in northern and southern part of the country especially South Omo Zone. In the zone sesame is highly produced, but it production is not known regionally and at a country level. So this study was aimed to research sesame value chain of the Zone. Simple descriptive statistics and value chain approach were employed for data analysis during this study. It attempts to deal with mapping and identifying sesame value chain actors and their roles, examines marketing channel, cost margin structure and assessing challenges and opportunities within the study area. The results of the study indicated that out 5589.3 quintals were supplied to markets for various actors and five alternative marketing channels were identified to transact the sesame product through intermediaries. The most important volume of sesame (4900.8 quintals) was marketed through channel V and the lowest volume in channel I. producers get the highest share in channel IV and the lowest in channel II. Barriers to entry traders into the market are that the capital requirement and therefore the wholesalers govern by volume transacted and internal control criteria within the market. Fertile land and high demand for the product were essential opportunity. Pests and disease, Low level of input utilization, Shortage of input supply and high price of inputs were the challenges of sesame production whereas lack of market information, price variability, delay of buyers, low bargaining power and poor product quality were the challenges sesame marketing.
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Profitability of cassava production in the Ashanti region of Ghana
66-69Views:747Cassava is a crop that is massively produced and consumed in Ghana even though it is produced by subsistence farmers. The aim of this study is to analyse the cost and returns of cassava farmers. Farmers profitability was accessed using the gross margin, net present value and the benefit cost ratio. SWOT analysis was conducted to access challenges faced by cassava farmers. Data was collected by personal interview from fifty (50) cassava growing farmers in the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The Costs and returns analysis show gross margin of USD 22.75 per acre. It was concluded that cassava is cultivated for both consumption and revenue. Even though there is low investment of capital in cassava production, it helps farmers to make use of available resources (personal savings, land and labour) which would have been idle. Further should compare profitability of crops that compete for use of famers land.
JEL. CODE: Q13, Q19
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Climate change effects on ski tourism
19-26Views:410Nowadays, climate change poses a common recurring problem in our everyday life. The weather forecasts tend to be inaccurate, the swiftly changing weather often makes fun of the people. The same unpredictability applies for forecasting the amount of precipitation or snowing. The major problem in ski tourism consists in the gradual shift of seasons, namely there is no snow in December yet, while at Easter-time we can count on such an enormous amount of snow. I’d like to present this climate condition and offer a sort of way out of this problem. In my empirical study, I have carried out document-analysis along the data collection phase, and I made half-structured deep-interviews, as well.
My research questions were the following: How is the winter season affected by climate change or by the lack of snow? Due to the unreliable climatic conditions what is the estimated ratio of drop in tourism in the season? How much shorter is a skiing-season and how does it affect the operation of the local ski-school? What are the features of pre, and post peak-season tourists’ emergence? How and for how long can a smaller ski-resort be maintained? What is the biggest challenge, problem at the ski-resorts along the state border?
First of all, I’d like to present and tackle the various solutions emerged facing the challenges of climate change effects related to skiing, on the other hand, I have made some personal interviews with Hungarian ski instructors working abroad and also with managers of Austrian ski schools trying to find out the various answers and reactions they have hammered out coping with the new challenges and difficulties in ski tourism.
Hungary can not be considered a skiing nation, although more and more people tend to take up skiing and get involved in this special field of sport tourism. The number of ski slopes being built and developed is increasing, yet the Hungarians ski-lovers tend to visit rather the foreign sport centers for the time being. The reasons mostly involve the various length and versatile difficulty level of the ski slopes. We should also take into account the challenging conditions imposed by climate change on the smaller winter sport centers and the way they can cope with it and also compete with other sport centers with similar features.
Climate change affects considerably the operation of skiing season, and the service providers must adapt to the new conditions. Many resort venues struggle for survival, though most of the local self-governments are clearly aware of the importance of ski-tourism, particularly in Austria. -
Adjustment of poland’s agriculture and food sector to challenges of agricultural policy of the European Union
39-44Views:169Paper is aimed in assessment of first period of Poland’s membership in EU and covering agriculture and rural areas with the support under the Common Agricultural Policy in the context of future challenges faced by the agricultural policy.Analysis shows that accession to EU became a strong impulse for growth of the Polish food economy, however the main challenge for the Common Agricultural Policy in future, from Poland’s perspective, will be strengthening the multifunctional agriculture, i.e. territorial cohesion and positive effects of agricultural activity on natural environment.
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Integration Efforts in Agriculture
91-96Views:173The economic and political transition brought many challenges for the Hungarian agricultural sector. The break-up of large agricultural holdings had serious negative impacts on food production and on the export of agricultural products. Capital intensive profit-seeking intermediaries dominate the trading of agricultural goods that has injurious effects in terms of downward pressure on production prices and an increase in consumer prices. Cooperatives have a key role in effectively tackling the common challenges that small-scale producers have to face. More vertical integration along the food chain could contribute to providing rural employment and to an increase in living standards in rural areas. This study reviews the development, the specific features and the driving forces of modern cooperatives in Central Europe in general, and in Hungary in particular. The focus is on the integrator role of cooperatives and their future role in our globalised world.
JEL Classification: Q10, Q13
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Industrial 4.0 Revolution: Can it Positively Step into a Sustainable Hospitality?
Views:234Technological advancements recently affected production, social and sustainable development. Few publications have addressed the industry 4.0 contribution to the sustainable hospitality industry. In this study, we review the ways and effectiveness of industry 4.0 in achieving sustainable development goals in the hospitality sector. Due to the modernity of the issue, resources used in this paper included articles from databases like SCOPUS, Sage, Elsevier, and google scholar using keywords such as big data analytics, simulation, Artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0 in hospitality, sustainable hotels, Industry 4.0 adaption in hospitality and smart hospitality system. This literature paper outline has five main sections—section one introduces industry 4.0. Section two is a literature review that includes Industry 4.0 connotation, sustainable development (SD), (SD) goals, challenges of (SD), and industry 4.0 solution for SD challenges. Industry 4.0 and sustainable hospitality. Section three is the methodology. The conclusion is the fourth section.
JEL classification code: L83
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The elements of strategic and marketing planning applied in the case of Avital company
111-112Views:146Presently, the environment that is characterized by rapid changesinallsocialspheres,thechallengesofrapidadaptation and survival in the market, the ability of thinking and acting in front of ‘’time’’is one of the key factors of success. Every day we have witnessed a large decline of the number of companies, poor implementation of many projects, poor implementation of governmentreforms, and life challenges of people to find work. On the other hand, there are individuals, organizations and companies that face challenges and changes very fast in all world markets and societies. Question that could be asked based on this is ‘’Why and how some companies manage it and the other not?"
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Decent Employment and Poverty Alleviation for Socio-Economic Development and Its Implications for the Well-Being of the Citizenry in South Africa
Views:244The need for governments and private employers to adequately provide decent work within the economy for all its inhabitants cannot be over-emphasized. This imperative is even more important since most obtainable work have been characterized by many detrimental dimensions which can be considered as constituting ‘indecent employment’. From the viewpoint of human development, the paper examines how ‘decent employment’ can serve as an antidote to poverty. Thus, decent employment can positively affect both material and non-material social development which include health, education, social security, food security and overall well-being.. The present paper is borne out of the desire to empower the average South African citizen in specifically attaining an improved socio-economic living standard. This paper employs a qualitative, thematic analysis of selected reported cases of perceived ‘indecent’ or non-meaningful employment from both informal and formal sectors’ Additionally, this paper highlights instances in which employees have experienced challenges in getting ‘dignified’ or decent employments as a result of casualization, outsourcing, short-term contracts, and temporary employments. This interpretive, qualitative approach was adopted to put forward a somewhat empirical evidence of the potential beneficial effect of decent employment on human and socio-economic development. The main contribution of this paper is that it foregrounds the need for decent employment of the workforce in addressing the three-pronged societal challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty. The paper posits that decent employment significantly contributes to national socio-economic development and poverty alleviation or eradication.
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New rural economy: Challenges and diversity in Eastern Croatia
51-54Views:147Eastern part of Croatia is agricultural region according to natural resource (fertile soil, first of all), as well as human potential (long experience in traditional agriculture). Besides agriculture as traditional activity, a characteristic of rurality is also added to this region. Rural area is dominant in Eastern Croatia and it effects on relatively small urban areas. This paper represents new possibilities of rural economic activities on family farms in Eastern Croatia. Role and significant of rural economic activities is analyzed through indicators overview (land structure, GDP, population, population density, TEA index, unemployment ect.). Challenges through diversification of rural economic activities in this paper includes added economic activities realized on family farms through tourism, crafts, handy work, processing, renewable energyetc. Added economic activities on family farms in Eastern Croatia participate with only 3.9%. Suggestions and possibilities measures of rural economic activities diversification are reflected through two main streams. First stream is diversification of activities through added value of agricultural products as vertical connection (organic food, autochthony products, functional food, renewable energy sources etc.). Other one economic activity diversification indicates distribution function of final products through different services on the family farm (direct sale, specialized shops, rural tourism and many other services).
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Supply chain management practices for SMEs
89-96Views:296In today’s globalized business environment small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face many challenges. In order of their survival SMEs need to produce more, at a lower cost, in less time, and with a few defects. They form the most significant group of manufacturing firms and give supports to large companies in many supply chains. In addition, SMEs contribute greatly to entrepreneurship, gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Despite the fact that micro, small and medium sized enterprises have very important role in business networks, they still have many problems with using supply chain management (SCM) practices. In this research my purpose was to find the best SCM practices as a strategic method to improve SMEs’ performance. First, I give information in general about SCM and the SMEs, then highlight main characteristics of small firms compared to large ones and the reasons why it is essential and efficient to use SCM practices. The article is based on secondary data, using several analysis, surveys, books, journals and my personal experiences collected in this sector. I conclude the research by summarizing my recommendations in connection with SCM practices, the opportunities and barriers.
JEL code: M11
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Comparative yield risk calculations of sour cherry and pear varieties regarding risk aversion
111-116Views:134Fruit production in the world is increasing continuously. Though in the past few years China and some South-American countries have extended their fruit producing areas, Europe remains to be one of the greatest fruit producers in the world. In the middle of Europe Hungary has to face several challenges as competing for market. Since yield risk has an important role in Hungarian fruit production we investigate the yield risk of two of the most important sour cherry varieties (’Újfehértói fürtös’ and ’Oblacsinszka’) grown in Újfehértó (1984-2005), moreover, two of the most important pear varieties (’Bosc Beurre’ and ’Williams’) grown in Bánfa and Zalasárszeg (1984-2009). In the examined periods we analyse yield risk with different comparative methods such as E,V-efficiency, first and second degree as well as generalized stochastic dominance methods. We conclude that the production of sour cherry variety ’Oblacsinszka’ in Újfehértó is more preferable compared to the other sour cherry varieties and pear variety ’Bosc Beurre’ in Bánfa is more advantageous than the other pear varieties and sites.
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Poultry sector analysis in Albania
Views:313Meat production, in specific poultry meat is a very important product for protein and nutrition values for many consumers. With the urbanization of the population people’s diet is shifting towards meat overall, including processed poultry. This has increased the challenges of quality and control over the meat products. (RAIHAN AND MAHMUD, 2018) In general, poultry remains a problematic sector in Albania, with the most common issue being the quality and not the European Union standards and regulations. This paper analysis the egg and poultry products livestock and productions, importing and exporting trends on poultry products, and the potential of development of this sector in the single market of European Union by improving the sector. This study gives an overview in poultry subsector related to livestock and production, international trades, and their market trends. It highlights the supply chain in poultry that can be helpful for poultry businesses and government. It also provides valuable information regarding the impact of quality issues in international market, also the structure of the market for poultry is conducted. Also, the imports and exports on poultry subsector trends and comparison was conducted. The study also consisted of calculations of index number CPI, which indicates the changes in consumer purchasing power.
JEL code: D1
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Perspectives for development social entrepreneurship in republic of Moldova
21-29Views:179Social entrepreneurship, as a field for research and scientific disputes between scholars and practitioners, it still remains a novel investigation area, as far as new opportunities, challenges, business approaches and concepts appear into the modern world and competitive market. This paper puts emphasis on social framework behind the development of social businesses in Moldova. Moreover, it presents the grass-root state of readiness of existing small and medium – sized enterprises from Moldova to undertake the leap towards the new kind of economy and different organizational approaches. The paper provides a content analysis of specific literature on social entrepreneurship, with particular emphasis on general perception of the small holders and small and medium – sized enterprises on social business. A total number of 593 small and medium – sized enterprises and individuals participated to organized interviews. The survey results show that 66% of the respondents are not acknowledged with social entrepreneurship concept and functionality. From those (34%) who are informed about the topic, most of them are actual young entrepreneurs. Additionally, young entrepreneurs, respondents, wouldn’t reinvest their profit for social mission (73%). Unlike young entrepreneurs, individuals would reinvest their profit in social missions, in case they have a business. These findings suggest that, in the society there is a lack of general understanding on social entrepreneurship. The author also found out that, the general perception regarding social problems is mostly assigned to public authorities instead of enterprises. Moreover, the research results show that the absence of a clear mechanism which would raise public awareness regarding social problems and social capital, affects the active implication of community stakeholders into the societal problems.
JEL code: M140
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Agricultural policy and rural development
105-112Views:144The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a cornerstone of EU policy relating to rural areas. Initially, it aimed to provide a harmonised framework for maintaining adequate supplies, increasing productivity and ensuring that both consumers and producers received a fair deal in the market. These priorities have shifted to environmental and animal welfare concerns, as well as food safety and security aspects. As a consequence, the CAP has gradually moved from a production-based structure of subsidies to a market-oriented system, integrating standards for food, environment and biodiversity, as well as animal welfare. In 2010, the EU launched an extensive debate on the future of the CAP, as the European Union needs a better tailored, reformed Common Agricultural Policy to answer the challenges of food, growth and jobs in rural areas. The European agriculture must address the expectations of rural society and demands of the market concerning public goods, the environment and climate change. This raises questions of whether the CAP payments in the past have been effective in achieving their objectives and whether direct payments should be continued for supporting agricultural environmental issues.
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TREND ANALYSIS OF UGANDA’S COFFEE SECTOR
Views:395Coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora) is an important commercial crop globally, and the second most traded global commodity by developing nations after oil. Uganda is among the top 10 coffee exporters worldwide, and second in Africa. The total export amounted to 301,366 tons of “green” coffee in 2021, forming the second-largest commodity export, and contributing about 12.4% to Uganda’s total formal exports. However, the country’s overall performance over time remains unclear given the fluctuations in production and export prices. This study aimed to evaluate the production and export trends of Uganda’s coffee sector by: (i) defining the overall direction of coffee production and export value, (ii) assessing the market variability, and (iii) evaluating the global cross-cutting issues regarding coffee production and export. Data was extracted from FAOSTAT and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) databases. Trends were analysed using the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s Slope test, while market variability was analyzed using the fixed base index (FBI) and coefficient of variation. VOSviewer software was used to analyze literature from the Web of Science database to highlight cross-cutting issues. Results indicated a significant positive increase in coffee production and export value (p = 0.0001, Slope = 1736.67 tons and p = 0.001, Slope = 4.44 million USD) respectively. Among the top ten coffee producers, Uganda presented the third worst unstable coffee export value with a 20.1% coefficient of variation. Fairtrade, climate change, and certification were the most outstanding global cross-cutting issues. Market stabilization mechanisms should be developed through value addition by establishing coffee processing and roasting plants, as well as strategic governance and policy support to counter emerging global challenges such as climate change.
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Medals and degrees: factors influencing dual career of elite student athletes at the University of Debrecen
93-98Views:218Career planning and goal setting play a significant role in the life of elite athletes gaining critical relevance during the overlapping years with university studies. As athletic career contain a necessary end and cannot serve as a profession for life, all athletes shall go through modification period in their professional lives. The athletic career shall come to an end and elite athletes need to find another profession for which they need to prepare as well. The specialities of this undertake is that the peak or the progressive cycle of athletic career often times overlap in time with high school and university studies. This definitely challenges those young athletes who made the decision to continue their studies at the university level beside their athletic careers. The objective of this study is to explore the main factors influencing the simultaneous realisation of studies and elite sport careers during university years. Part of a complex research approach on dual career in sport this study is aimed to gain information about methods of athletes for managing their dual tasks, the perceived relationship of student athletes to their peers, teachers and coaches, and their position on the relevant policy regulations provided by the university environment. Following the development of research instruments, data collection was conducted by focus-group interviews at the University of Debrecen among student elite athletes receiving sport scholarships (N=15). Level of success in sport, sport type (individual and team) and gender distribution was taking into account. The results shall contribute to the development of a future research instrument in a form of a questionnaire to assess aspects of dual career of athletes in case of larger samples.
JEL code: Z20
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Farmers’ experience in adoption and usage of ICT solutions for agriculture in the Republic of Macedonia
25-30Views:288The adoption of new of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in farming activities becoming crucial for developing countries in order to meet the challenges of rapidly growing populations, urbanization and arable agricultural land declination. Because of it, each farmers’ organization or farmer has to concern their agricultural products and services more towards modernized and ICT related routine. The attempt has been made to analyze the reaction of the Macedonian farmers towards ICTs as a source of reliable and timely information about e-banking, online purchasing/selling, marketing, input and output optimization, increased revenue, remote farm management process etc. Semi-structured questionnaire was used for interviewing 132 semi-experienced and experienced farmers that use ICTs as sample for the research. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistics tool like correlation and Rank Based Quotient (RBQ). The findings showed that farmers stressed the cost of ICTs, lack of training, trust level in the government institutions, and lack of ICT infrastructure are thresholds for ICTs adoption and use in agriculture. This research contributes to understand the adoption and use of ICT, identify the constraints associated with ICT use and propose recommendations towards the improvement of ICTs for agriculture in the Republic of Macedonia.
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Improving audit functions of supreme audit institutions to promote sustainable development
63-69Views:253In this paper, we demonstrate and analyze the substance of the added value effect of a Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), focusing on sustainable development issues.We intend to answer such questions as: how could a SAI respond to global and local challenges and how it could help government to implement commitments towards sustainability. Finally, we trace a possible way to improve external audit functions both on the state level and at the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), by using some ideas from network theory.
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Nexus of non-farm enterprises and rural households’ livelihood: evidence from Nigeria
Views:137Agricultural sector in Nigeria is faced with diverse challenges that threaten the survival of rural households who constitute a significant proportion of the country’s population, thereby forcing them to diversify into alternative occupations outside farming. This study assessed the contributions of non-farm enterprises to livelihood of rural households in Osun State, Nigeria. The quantitative data were elicited from120 rural households’ heads across the state. The data collected analysis appropriate statistics. Results revealed that majority of rural households were involved in multiple non-farm enterprises and provide full-time employment for majority. Many were favourably disposed to contribution of non-farm enterprises to their households’ livelihood. Majority indicated that non-farm enterprises contributed moderately to their households’ livelihood. Income from non-farm enterprises, association membership and age were significantly correlated with the contribution of non-farm enterprises to rural households’ livelihood. It was concluded that non-farm enterprises play significant roles in sustaining the livelihood of rural households in the study area
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Human resource aspect of agricultural economy – challenges of demographic change
163-167Views:184Over the past decades, the agrarian policy has tried to contribute to the catching-up of the rural areas with varying dynamism and aid scheme. However, its result is significantly below expectations. Nowadays, the age composition of the population living in rural areas reveals an unfavourable picture; the rate of the elderly, deprived persons and people being inactive from the aspect of employment is high and it is also combined with the low educational levels. The young generations and intellectuals leave the rural areas and, consequently, the rate of the active population continues to grow narrow as well as the proportion of young and skilled employees decreases. As a consequence of changes in the past decades, the rate of agricultural employment has not led to an intensive change but a failing change in extensive direction which lays off jobs. Nowadays, this process also determines the Hungarian rural society. In the sector, the need for employment diminishes as a result of the development in technology and due to the expansion of services sector. The purpose of our study is to present and analyse the human resources of our country’s agriculture by skill level and age group and compare it with the needs of companies, by doing this we try to compare supply and demand. In details, based on secondary data source, we investigate the agricultural labour force and try to confront it with the advertisements of job search portals (three of our job search portals based on our predefined criteria), by which we achieve a current picture of the agricultural human resource circumstances.
JEL Code: J43
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Green house gas mitigation and headline targets of Europe 2020 strategy
109-117Views:161Climate change is considered as one of the biggest challenges of XXI century and global action is needed to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHG) and adapt to changing water levels and temperatures, which affect food supply and ecosystem integrity. Climate change will have significant economic and social impacts in many regions of EU and sectors like agriculture is considered to bear greater adverse affects. Less developed regions and certain sections of society (the elderly and/or low-income households) are expected to suffer more from climate change. Climate change policy of EU, adopted in December 2008, includes ambitious targets for 2020. The policy is focused on a sustainable future with an energy-efficient economy by (i) cutting greenhouse gases by 20% (30% if international agreement is reached), (ii) reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency and iii) meeting 20% of energy needs from renewable sources. In the frame of the headline targets of Europe 2020 Strategy, this paper discusses most important greenhouse gas-emitting activities in agriculture, emphasizes the importance structural changes through the modernisation of infrastructure particularly in developing regions of EU and calls for enhancing the competitiveness of economy to promote energy efficiency.
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OPERATING RESULTS OF SILAGE ENTERPRISE OF A FARM - A CASE STUDY
Views:148Improvements in agriculture has been focusing on innovations to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the traditional production structure currently in use more flexible and by making the necessary technological changes for farmers with large areas and the necessary machinery and equipment. Farms with significant arable land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficiency and profitability. The decisive sector of agriculture in Hungary is crop production, therefore its performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop sector and the volatility in prices. From the farm data, we calculated farm-level results that support the need for machinery modernisation efforts, as precision tools and improvements already started in maize production can be applied fruitfully even in the light of the increasing frequency of negative climatic effects. During the development of silage maize cultivation technology, the achievements of precision farming were applied. Differentiated nutrient replenishment and sowing operations were used, in addition to the fact that harvesting was also documented. We set ourselves the goal of analyzing the management data of the study period between 2019-2022 in order to reveal the nature of the changes that occurred in terms of production value, production cost, and income, as well as the components that shape them. The presented values are average values of such conditions which are also suitable for crop-level conclusions. At the same time, they can be used to identify sector-level challenges and trends.
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A comparison of the Hungarian mangalitza and dutch organic pork chains
73-76Views:167The aim of this paper is to present the Hungarian mangalitza pig and Dutch organic pig supply chains and, in interrogating the differences between the two sectors, to make suggestions for the efficient operation of the Hungarian mangalitza breeding sector. The information about the two was sourced by a depth interview and literature reviews. It is established that there are few similarities between the two segments. In both sectors, the pigs are kept outdoors in large paddocks, there are also National Associations: in Hungary, the Association of Mangalitza Breeders (NAMB), in The Netherlands, the Organic Pork Growers. They hold a general meeting every year, where they discuss issues such as volume, quality, price, marketing and the future challenges and opportunities. There is strong demand both for the mangalitza and also for Dutch organic pork products on foreign markets. The main difference between them is their information systems. In The Netherlands, information flows via FarmingNet, but in the mangalitza sector, no such system exists. Yet, such a system would represent a breaking point for the adequate flow of data and efficient production for the NAMB, because then, Hungarian farmers would be forced to supply data.
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Intensity and Profitability of Smallholder Cassava Farmers’ Participation in Value Addition in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria
Views:208This study investigated the intensity and profitability of smallholder cassava farmers’ involvement in cassava value addition in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 150 cassava farming households through the use of a well-structured questionnaire and employing a simple random sampling procedure. The data collected included information on the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, intensity of value addition among the respondents, factors influencing their decisions to add value as well as the extent of value addition, profitability of cassava value addition and the factors that determined the profitability level of the enterprises. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics for profiling the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, gross margin was used to measure profitability, and ordinary least squares regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the decisions of smallholder cassava farmers to add value to cassava as well as the extent of value addition among them. The results revealed that majority of the respondents were females (52.7%) with average age between 31-40 years of age while the average household size (52.7%) is between 6-10 members. Regression analysis of the determinants of the intensity of value addition revealed that the decisions to add value to cassava as well as the extent to which value was added were influenced positively by educational attainment, household size, and years of experience in cassava value addition. Results of the gross margin analysis revealed a positive return on variable costs thus indicating that the cassava value adding enterprise is a profitable one. These findings presented the need for all the stakeholders concerned to focus their attentions on proffering solutions to the challenges faced by cassava processors within the minimum time possible.
JEL code: L11, M11, M21, Q13, R32
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