ECONOMIC APPRAISAL OF WOMEN ENGAGEMENT LEVEL AND CONSTRAINTS IN CASSAVA PROCESSING AND MARKETING IN NIGER DELTA REGION, NIGERIA

The main interest was to examine the women’s engagement level and constraints in cassava processing and marketing. The multistage sampling method was adopted in picking 320 respondents. Data was obtained with the help of structured questionnaires and gotten data was analysed using Likert scale, descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The study established that respondents were matured with an average ages of 44 years that were mostly married female gender with low educational levels. Operations of respondents were on full- time with a family size of a 9 persons having 18 years’ experience. The mean of 3.20 revealed that women were actively engaged. Family labour supply was mostly adopted with Osusu (peer contributions) sources of credits by respondents was absence of capital followed by unstable prices/Government unfavourable policies that ranked first (1st) and second (2nd) respectively. The constraints’ economic implication was the loss of revenue (income) and household stress increase, which is dangerous for the economic survival of households, especially women. The study recommends an immediate relief package to cassava processors and marketers by government and NGOs. Also Government and various stake holders should enact favourable policies in enhancing processing and marketing of cassava operations especially in the area of credits.