Assessment of adoption of improved processing techniques among palm oil processors in ife north local government area, osun state, nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the adoption of improved processing techniques among palm oil processors in Ife North local government area of Osun state, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents from the study area and data was collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The result shows that majority of the respondents (74.2%) are female, 42.5% are between the age range of 31-40 and 54.2% are married. The result also shows that some improved techniques have been introduced to the farmers while some have not been introduced to them. A large number of the respondents have access to information mostly from neighborhood farmers, but there was variation in their level of adoption. Majority (75.8%) adopted hydraulic presser which is the highest technology adopted while Malaysian knife have not been adopted by 100% of the respondent. There was high level of challenges faced by the processors in the study area. Therefore it is recommended that more awareness and sensitization on improved processing technique should be given to palm oil processors and also the materials should be constructed by local crude and less sophisticated materials that can be constructed and repaired locally