Contribution of Sesame Production to the Livelihood of Farmers in Dutsin-Ma Local Government Area, Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

Sesame production is an important enterprise that could boost incomes of its producers, thereby improving their livelihoods. It has been one of the cash crops produced in Nigeria, mostly by small scale farmers in order to acquire income for taking care of their families. In Katsina State, sesame is considered as one of the commercial crops for local and international markets. Thus, assessment of sesame contribution to the livelihood improvement of the farmers is vital. This could help to pay more attention to its production and utlisation. Data collected from 100 farmers were used to assess contribution of sesame production to the livelihood of farmers in Dutsin-Ma Local Government Area. Descriptive Statistics and Farm Budgeting Techniques were used to analyze the data. The net farm income (₦124,665.92/ha) obtained from the enterprise helped to improve farmers’ livelihood assets; sesame contributed 36.80% to each livelihood asset acquired by the farmers. Education, Housing, transportation, communication and livestock were among the assets that had greatly improved. It was noticed that the farmers were not gaining the optimum benefits associated with the enterprise; they were not processing sesame for oil extraction and soap making, which deprived them from accessing numerous other benefits. Farmers should organize themselves into strong cooperative societies to enable them access government and non-governmental loans and assistance packages. Governments and Non-Governmental Organizations should help to enlightened and trained the farmers on how to further process and market sesame products.