Socio-demographic Characteristics of Smallholder Farmers That Influence Their Competence in Rice Post-Harvest Value Addition, Southern Region of Sierra Leone

Abstract

This study on the influence of the socio-demographic characteristics of smallholder farmers on their competencies in rice post-harvest value addition was done in the Southern region of Sierra Leone. The study aimed at developing an extension training model to improve the capacity of smallholder farmers in rice post-harvest value addition with the view of identifying their required competencies. In addition, the farmers' competencies for rice post-harvest value addition technologies were also assessed. A quantitative approach with the use of an interview schedule was used to generate data. Four hundred smallholder farmers were selected by using Yamane's (1973) formula followed by a multi-stage proportional sampling technique. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis was used to analyse data. Results show that the OLS model predicted R-square value r=0.125 (12.5%) from the main source of labour, alternative livelihood, the key source of information, and main source of income as the best socio-demographic predictors of smallholder farmers' competencies in rice post-harvest value addition at p<0.05. Harvesting paddy with a knife (Mean=3.95), heaping paddy on tarpaulin (Mean=3.49), use of basket to transport paddy by humans (Mean=4.13) are some of the technologies where farmers acknowledged high competencies. The study, therefore, identifies that smallholder farmers in the study area have limited competencies in rice post-harvest value addition as they majorly rely on traditional technologies to manually harvest and process their rice after harvest. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Sierra Leone should therefore emphasise packaging, marketing, milling, and drying to promote rice post-harvest value addition among smallholder farmers.