Commercialisation Of Under-utilised Edible Insects In Benue State Nigeria

Under-utilised edible insects’ species have enormous potentials for entrepreneurial opportunities inrnNigeria. In addition, they provide an essential component of human diet for sustainable livelihood.rnFormulating sound policies on harnessing the full potentials of under-utilised edible insects requires arndeep knowledge of their current commercialisation level. This study examined the extent ofrncommercialisation of under-utilised edible insects in Benue State. The objectives of the study were to:rn(i) enumerate under-utilised edible insects harvested by the rural households in the study area; (ii)rndetermine the level of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects among rural households; (iii)rnexamine factors affecting the extent of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects; (iv) evaluaternthe returns generated from the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects; and (v) determine therncontribution of commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects to the livelihood status of ruralrnhouseholds.rnThe study was a cross sectional survey using two-stage sampling procedure. Primary data were obtainedrnfrom 156 rural households that were involved in the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insectsrnin Benue State. The data collection using a structured interview schedule started in August, 2018 andrnended in May, 2019. First stage of the sampling procedure involved the purposive selection of 5% outrnof the 368 rural communities in Benue State. The second stage involved a snowball sampling of ruralrnhouseholds. Household Commercialisation Index, descriptive statistics, Tobit regression model,rnmarketing margin and Ordinary Least Square regression model were employed to analyse the data.rnThe findings of the study were that:rn(i) the proportion of crickets, termites, caterpillars, grasshoppers and palm weevils harvested by thernrural households in the study area were 30.13%, 44.87%, 12.18%, 5.13% and 7.13%, respectively;rn(ii) the majority (81%) of the rural households commercialised most of the under-utilised edible insectsrnharvested at 85.19%, 81.89%, 81.60%, 85.12%, and 85.92% extent of commercialisation for cricket,rntermite, caterpillar, grasshopper and palm weevil respectively;rn(iii) the factors affecting the extent of the commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects using Tobitrnregression model were gender (p = 0.1), marital status (p = 0.05), years of schooling of householdrnhead (p = 0.1), annual income (p = 0.01), and household size (p = 0.01);rn(iv) a total of 138 kg of crickets, 104 kg of termites, 102 kg of caterpillars, 103 kg of grasshoppers andrn122 kg of palm weevils were commercialised with the net returns of ₦47,931.00, ₦41,106.00,rn₦40,461.00, ₦42,063.00 and ₦44,917.00 per season respectively; andrn(v) commercialisation of under-utilised edible insects significantly enhanced the livelihood status of thernrural households (R2 = 67.4%). Other significant variables of the Ordinary Least Square regressionrnresult were primary occupation of the household head (p = 0.1), distance of home to nearest villagernmarket (p = 0.05), and amount of credit received by the household head (p = 0.05).rnThe study concluded that commercialisation of harvested under-utilised edible insects has positivernimpact on the livelihood status of the rural households in the study area. The study rec

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