Disseminating technological information for value-added production: the dual roles of cassava value chain actors in Nigeria

Abstract

Actors functioning at the two ends of the communication process in a bid to disseminate the cassava technologies for value-addition were studied. The study identified the products and services of the cassava value chain actors, examined their sources and targeted receivers of technological information, determined the variations in knowledge level and the value chain structure. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the selection of respondents. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules from a total 353 respondents and analysed with descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that 28.8% of farmers supplement proceeds from cassava tubers with sale of stem cuttings while 4.7%, 3% and 2.3% processors identified production of Vitamin A gari, fufu flour and starch, respectively as major products. Technological information transmission to farmers and processors were mostly from trickled down information through interpersonal relations (77% and 56.5%, respectively). The input dealers were sources of information to 37.5% of farmers and to 40% of the processors. Significant difference (F=71.29 at P ≤ 0.001) was found in the actors’ knowledge of the cassava technologies. It was concluded that the dissemination of cassava technologies was inept due to multilateral communication on the technologies and very limited professional coordination thereby generating less impact for the achievement of productivity optimization in the chain.