ANALYSIS OF PROCESSING ACTIVITIES AND CONSTRAINTS AMONG WOMEN CATFISH PROCESSORS IN ANKPA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The status of women in our society over the ages and all over the culture had always been considered inferior to men. The study focused on analysis of processing activities and constraints among women catfish processors in Ankpa Local Government Area, Kogi State, Nigeria.Two-stage sampling procedure was used for this study. In stage one; (2) two villages with high level of catfish production and marketing were purposively selected from the 3 districts respectively making a total of 6 villages. Stage two involved random selection of twenty (20) women catfish processors from each village selected in stage one making a total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents. Data collected were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics at (P<0.05). Result shows mean age of 35 years among the respondents and married (56.7%). Women catfish processors major fish processing ranked by mean weighted score (WMS) revealed that washing fish ( = 2.83), folding ( = 2.52) and salting ( = 2.48). Majority (76.7%) got their information on fish processing through their family and friends. Price instability ( = 3.59), seasonal in nature ( = 3.01), poor extension services ( = 2.98), high incidence of storage pest ( = 2.97) and difficulty in accessing loans ( = 2.97) were constraints faced by the respondents. Significant relationship existed between age (t=31.12), educational level (t= 19.06), household size (t=13.16) and catfish processing activities among the respondents. The study concluded that the respondents were highly involved in washing of fish before processing and recommended that awareness should be created on significance of catfish culture in order to boost artisanal supply to solve the problem of seasonality and price instability.