THE EFFECT OF POSTHARVEST LOSSES OF YAM TUBER ON HOUSEHOLD FOOD AVAILABILITY IN ZONE A AGRICULTURAL AREA OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examines the effect of postharvest losses of yam tuber on household food availability in Zone A agricultural area of Benue state, Nigeria. The main thrust of the study was to; investigate the causes of postharvest losses of yam tuber and explore the effect of postharvest losses of yam tuber on household food availability. This study adopts Adoption theory as a theoretical framework. Questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection. A sample size of three hundred and seventy-nine (379) respondents was used for the study. Findings from the study revealed causes of postharvest loss to include; Microorganisms such as fungi and bacterial, mechanical factors such as injuring/cutting, activities of some wild animals such as rodents, monkeys, and mice, lack of good practice and technology, poor extension services and postharvest. The cluster means of 2.98 with a standard deviation of .77 was found to be above the cut-off point of 2.50 on all the causes. The test of hypothesis shows ANOVA result as F-value = 487.783; p < 0.05. This result invariably shows that postharvest loss of yam tuber affects food availability. Regression estimates presented showed that there is a significant effect of postharvest loss on yam tuber since the significant level of .000 is less than the critical value of 0.05.  Based on the above, the study concludes that postharvest loss has a negative effect on yam tuber leading to a reduction in food availability. The study recommends the establishment of yam processing factories to reduce the extent of post-harvest losses of yam tubers, the construction of access roads to yam producing areas to reduce post-harvest losses of yam tubers, and employment of extension agents to educate farmers in the area of post-harvest losses of yam.