Value Addition to Beans: The Case of Bean Balls “Akara” Production in Idemili South Local Government of Anambra State, Nigeria

Aims: The study examined socio-economic characteristics of the bean balls producers, the profitability of production, determinants of profit, reasons for starting the business and constraints to production of bean balls in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. The great need to help homemakers in Nigeria better appreciate and prepare cowpea bean balls as snacks for income generation and women empowerment in Nigeria informed this study.

Study Design: Multi-stage, purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select 50 respondents. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: Findings on socio-economic factors of the respondents gave mean age, education level and years of experience of 42.4years, 13.5years and 8.9 years respectively; the majority (92%) of the respondents were females, the majority (60%) married and most (70%) had a household size of 4-6 persons. The enterprise proved profitable with monthly mean net income and net return on investment values of ₦75,990 and 0.39 respectively. Significant determinants of net production returns were gender, educational level and costs of inputs. Main reasons for starting the business were a scarcity of job, profitable nature of the business, high demand and small start-up capital. Serious constraints to production of bean balls in the area were conjunctivitis due to emitted smoke, high and unstable price of raw materials and high cost of production. Policy measures such as bulk purchasing of beans, regulation of market prices of the product, provision of infrastructures (water, electricity), use of cooking gas as a source of heat would mitigate the problems, improve productivity, output and enterprise profitability.

Conclusion: The bean ball production proved to be a profitable enterprise in the study area. Nevertheless, the efficiency and profitability would be improved if the constraints identified by the study are addressed as it will encourage many more people especially young, active and viable individuals, to venture into the enterprise.