Determinants of Agripreneurship among the Rural Households of Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State

Abstract

Despite the abundance of agripreneurial opportunities in rural communities of Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, studies seem not to have captured the determinants of agripreneurship in the area. The study employed an ex post facto research design to generate relevant data using structured questionnaire administered as interview schedule on 120 purposively selected rural households. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential (Logit regression analysis) statistics.  Results showed that most of the agripreneurs (64.20%) were male who are within the mean productive age of 46 years and average household size of 7 persons. Meanwhile, the major agripreneurial activity of the people was farm production – arable crops, livestock, and fisheries from where they earn an average annual income of ninety-eight thousand, three hundred and forty three naira, twenty kobo (N98,343.20). The study identified access to credits and loans, tax rates, agripreneurial training, income level of the agripreneur, geographical location, availability of market, fertility of the soil, number of competitors, quantity of agricultural output, availability of social amenities, and the type of farming system practiced as having influence on agripreneurship drive among rural households.  Similarly, land tenure system, lack of investment infrastructures, lack of technical know-how, poor training of rural households by extension agents, lack of access to research results, high interest rate on loan, high competitive market, poor returns to agricultural investment, and lack of access to loan as the major constraints to agripreneurship among rural households. Based on the findings, the study recommended provision of key investment infrastructures such as electricity, good roads, organised; and proper information dissemination to the rural households on how to identify viable agripreneurial opportunities.

Keywords: agripreneurship, agripreneurs, investment, drive, rural, households, constraints