Development of Entrepreneurship Competency Programme for Helping Women Farmers Improve the Processing of Cassava into Quality Garri and Starch in South-Eastern of Nigeria

The study focussed on the development of entrepreneurship competency programme to help women farmers to improve processing of cassava into quality garri/starch in South Eastern State of Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. Research and Development (R&D) and function of the industry approach where adopted for the study. The sample for study was 170 made up of 158 extension agencies and 12 women farmers (6 for garri and 6 for starch). A 56 item questionnaire developed from literature and function of the industry was used for data collection (25 for garri and 31 for starch processing). Three experts face validated the instrument. Split half technique and Cronbach alpha reliability method were involved in determining the internal consistence of the instrument. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained for garri and 0.85 for starch. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. It was found out that the product after the training was of better quality than the product obtained from the market and that they meet NAFDAC quality criteria. It was therefore recommended that the identified items in table 1 be packaged to be used for training women in agriculture and others interested to produce quality garri and starch for local use and export.