WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE IN CATFISH PROCESSING AMONG STUDENTS OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION, IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper assessed the willingness of students of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production, Ibadan to participate in catfish processing enterprise. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select 150 respondents for this study. Quantitative data were collected on the respondent’s socio-demographic characteristics, willingness to participate in catfish processing activities, perception towards their catfish processing and constraints to participate in the processing of catfish. Data were described using frequency, percentage, means and standard deviation while Chi-square and Pearson correlation analyses were employed to carry out inferential statistics. Results showed that the students had a mean age of 22±3years and about half (50.7%) were female. The respondents indicated they had skill in killing life catfish ( =1.18), leaning and washing the fish ( =1.15) and had positive perception toward catfish processing. The high cost of processing machines ( =1.52) and difficulty in raising initial capital ( =1.51) ranked highest among the constraints affecting their participation in catfish processing. There is a significant correlation between the students’ age (r=0.165), their perception of catfish processing (r=0.220), practical training received on catfish processing (r=0.554), perceived skill in catfish processing (r=0.689) and their willingness to participate in catfish processing. It was concluded from the study that the majority of the respondents were willing to participate in the production of catfish processing. It was recommended based on the findings that the cost of processing equipment should be subsidized and functional credit facilities should be provided for interested students to boost their participation in catfish processing after graduation.