Cassava Processing, Marketing and Its Impact on Job Creation in Nigeria

Abstract

Unemployment has been one of the adverse effects of population explosion all over the world. Gone were the days of automatic employment for graduates especially in developing economies like Nigeria. Thus, Cassava products business is identified as a fertile field to absorb every willing and agile person willing to overcome the reproach of unemployment. From farming to processing and marketing of the products, cassava business is an endless outlets waiting for people to key into it. The paper therefore examined cassava processing and marketing of its products as a vital means of curtailing unemployment among the teeming youth population, and a means of reducing abject poverty among the employed in Nigeria. The paper explored steps that could be taken to assuage the negative effects of unemployment in Nigeria. Again, the methodology adopted is the use of field surveys, empirical site reports and discussions with the critical stakeholders of cassava products business. Secondary data were also used. The results were examined using discrete statistics and presented in tables. The result revealed that cassava processing and its products marketing are vital avenues for employment creation and means of reducing life’s trauma in Nigeria. Therefore, the paper concluded that with vision, ruggedness, determination, willingness and government concerted effort to providing the enabling environment, cassava products business could contribute in no small measures in reducing unemployment to a large extent. Thus, recommends that government should provide the enabling environment with the view to motivating the teeming youths to venture into cassava farming as was done by previous governments in operation feed the nation and the green revolution.