Involvement of Rural Dwellers in Oil Palm Fruits Postharvest Activities in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the involvement of rural dwellers in oil palm fruits Post-Harvest Activities (PHAs) in Ondo State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socio-economic characteristics of respondents; examined their perception towards involvement in oil palm fruits PHAs; identified oil palm fruit PHAs respondents were involved in; determined their level of involvement in those activities and identified constraints associated with their involvement. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 processors from selected 3 LGAs in Ondo State. Results showed that majority (71.7% and 62.5%) of the respondents had formal education and married respectively with mean age of 42 ±10.9 years. Majority (63.3%) of the respondents had favourable perception towards involvement in oil palm fruits PHAs. Majority (86.8%. 80% and 60.8%) of the processors were mostly involved in marketing of palm oil, storage of palm oil and packing of palm oil respectively. Also, more than half (61.7%) of the respondents had moderate level of involvement in oil palm fruit PHAs. Lack of modern processing unit (mean=2.96), inadequate access to credit facilities (mean=2.90), lack of adequate technology (mean=2.81) were the major constraints limiting respondents’ involvement in oil palm fruit PHAs. The result of correlation analysis showed that years of residence (r= -0.184), family size (r=0.200) and years of education (r=0.322) had significant relationship with respondents’ involvement in oil palm fruits PHAs. The study concluded that respondents had moderate involvement in oil palm fruits PHAs and recommended that relevant stakeholders should provide modern processing and functional credit facilities. Keywords: oil palm fruits, postharvest activities, involvement, rural dweller