Percent Level Of Significance Research Articles

Examining the Linkage between Poverty and Macroeconomic Variables in Malaysia: A Co-integration Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to examine the linkage between the macroeconomic variables i.e. gross domestic product per capita (GDP), unemployment (UNE), tourist receipts (TOU), consumer price index (CPI) and poverty rate (POV) in Malaysia from 1969-2014. The econometric techniques used are unit root test and the Johansen Cointegration. The Granger Causality test using Block Exogeneity Wald test was added to analyze the causal relationships between the variables. The unit root test showed that all variables were stationary at first difference and thus the Johansen Co-integration test is an appropriate technique to employ. The evidence from co-integration test indicates that all the five series have three (3) co-integrating equations and significance at 1 percent level of significance. The causality test indicated there is a significant unidirectional causality between POV on GDP, CPI on POV, POV on TOU, GDP on UNE, GDP on TOU and CPI on TOU and bidirectional causality between POV and UNE. This paper is possibly the first to discuss these relationships in Malaysian context using Co-integration analysis. The finding implies that poverty is the key issue that should be addressed to achieve a high-income country status in the year 2020.

Effect of Globalization on Nigerian Financial Sector

The study examined the effect of globalization on the Nigerian financial sector and to ascertain the contribution of globalization on the Nigerian stock exchange and commercial banks. Assets of the Nigerian stock exchange and commercial banks were used as performance indicators. The data used are Nigerian yearly data from 1983 to 2014; the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ordinary least square statistical technique, Johannes’s co-integration and error correction mechanism. We used Augmented Dickey-fuller statistics test for stationary. We proxy globalization with degree of openness measured by total trade divided by gross domestic product, foreign direct investment flows, Real Gross Domestic Product, external debt flows, nominal exchange rate and gross capital formation. Two null hypotheses were formulated and were tested. They were rejected based on overall significant of models using F statistics at 5 percent level of significance. The result of our estimate based on overall significant of models using F statistics at 5 percent level of significance shows that Nigerian financial sector as a whole has benefited from globalization. Some of the globalization proxy variables take out a priori signs while some did not. However, the foreign direct investment flows and Real Gross Domestic Product affected the performance of the Nigeria Stock Exchange and commercial banks positively while degree of openness, external debt flows, nominal exchange rate and gross capital formation affected the Nigeria stock exchange and Commercial Banks negatively. This shows that Nigerian foreign trade is low. External debt flow has a negative effect on the Nigerian stock Exchange and positive on commercial banks. Nigeria should discourage external loans. Gross capital formation and external debt flows affected the Nigeria stock exchange negatively. We therefore recommend that the recent re-capitalization and debt recovery exercise and monitoring macroeconomic stability be encouraged to gain confidence by investors in the financial sector.

Impact of urbanization growth on Malaysia CO2 emissions: Evidence from the dynamic relationship

Urbanization is a phenomenon of economic and social modernization. Investigating the link between urbanization growth and CO2 emissions is necessary and helpful for Malaysia to achieve its pollution reduction targets. Ecological modernization and augmented Cobb–Douglas production theories are used in order to gain the best understanding of interaction between CO2 emissions and urbanization for the 1971–2015 period. This study aims to examine the relationships among CO2 emissions, urbanization growth, energy consumption, GDP, domestic investment, and financial development. The F-bounds test and VECM Granger causality are utilized. The dynamic relationship among variables and the inverted U-shaped relationship between CO2 emissions and urbanization in the long run are examined. The elasticity of CO2 – urbanization is found positive elastic in the early stage of urbanization, but it turns to negative inelastic at the higher urbanization stage. Furthermore, the unidirectional causality from urbanization to CO2 emissions in the short run are at a 1 percent level of significance, and the bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions and urbanization is at a 5 percent level of significance in the long run. Also, we captured bidirectional causality among energy consumption, domestic investment, GDP, CO2 emissions, and unidirectional causality from financial development to CO2 emissions at least at a 5 percent level of significance. These findings could support policymakers in managing urbanization development and considering clean investment and other green aspects for urban sustainable development, which can save many people from natural disaster.

The Impact of Credit Risk Management on Profitability: Evidence from Nepalese Commercial Banks.

This study examines the impact of credit risk management on profitability of Nepalese commercial banks. The profitability in terms of return on assets and return on equity are selected as dependent variables. Capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loan ratio, cost per loan assets, cash reserve ratio, assets growth ratio and leverage ratio are taken as independent variables. The data are collected from bank supervision reports published by Nepal Rastra Bank and annual reports of selected commercial banks. The survey is based on 126 observations from 18 commercial banks in Nepal. In case, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis some diagnostic tests for the linear regression model assumption was presented. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and importance of credit risk management on profitability in Nepalese commercial banks. The result shows that capital adequacy ratio, cost per loan assets and assets growth ratio are positively related with return on assets and return on equity. It indicates that higher the capital adequacy ratio, higher would be the return on assets and return on equity. Similarly, increase in cost per loan assets leads to an increase in return on assets and return on equity. Likewise, higher the assets growth ratio, higher would be the return on assets and return on equity. The results also shows that non-performing loan ratio, cash reserve ratio and leverage ratio are negatively related with return on assets and return on equity which reveals that increase in non-performing loan ratio leads to decrease in return on assets and return on equity. Similarly, higher the cash reserve ratio, lower would be the return on assets and return on equity. Likewise, increase in leverage ratio leads to a decrease in return on assets and return on equity. The beta coefficient is positive for capital adequacy ratio, cost per loan assets and assets growth ratio and bank performance whereas the beta coefficient is negative for non-performing loan ratio, cash reserve ratio and leverage ratio and bank performance. The beta coefficient is significant for capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loan ratio, assets growth ratio and leverage ratio at 5 percent level of significance.

Impact of decentralised rainwater harvesting structures on farm income, variable input usage and livestock possession in semi-arid tracts of India: Regression analyses

To sustain the growth of agriculture and feed its growing population, India needs to shift to semi-arid regions characterised by water scarcity for irrigation. Rainwater harvesting is a potential solution to this problem in future. Decentralised rainwater harvesting systems have been developed to overcome the demerits of community based watershed structures. Using robust least square regression it was found that among various factors, adoption of rainwater harvesting structures is significant at 5 percent level of significance and plays important role in not only increasing the farm income but also increasing the use of yield enhancing inputs like fertiliser (1 per cent level of significance), seed (5 per cent), labour (1 per cent) and farmyard manure (1 per cent). Livestock possession was also found to be significantly influenced by adoption at 1 percent level of significance.

Relationship between Patients Perception of Recovery, Distance to Health Facility and Tuberculosis Treatment Default in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

With the current launch of End TB Strategy by World Health Organization, this is a global call to reduce Tuberculosis death by 95percent and tuberculosis incidence by 90 percent by the year 2035. It becomes imperative to investigate some factors that may hinder the achievement of this goal and find solution to these limiting factors. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of distance to Direct Observation Treatment (DOT) centre on one hand and patients’ perception of improved prognostic outcome on tuberculosis treatment default. A random sample of 150 tuberculosis patients on treatment between May – August 2016 attending different health centers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria were interviewed. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires from consenting TB patients. Chi-square statistical technique at 5 percent level of significance was used to test the null hypothesis of no relationship. Results indicated that 83 of the 150 TB patients defaulted in their treatment regimen, giving a default rate of 55.3 percent. Residential distance to health /DOT center was statistically associated with Tuberculosis (TB) treatment default, default increased with travel distance between patients’ residence and treatment center (X2 = 16.7003; df = 2; p < 0.001). Also, patients’ experience of disappearance of signs and symptoms as evidence of improved prognosis (perception of recovery) of TB illness was statistically associated with TB treatment default (X2 = 12.5468, df = 4, P = 0.014 ). This study emphasized the need for suitable specific measures for reducing treatment non-compliance as well as proper and repeated motivation of patients during treatment e.g. referring patients to nearby DOT centers, improving contact and default tracing, DOTS expansion and consolidation etc.

Stock Market and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This study investigates the short run effect, long run effect and causal relationship between stock market and economic growth in Nigeria. The Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test, Ordinary Least Squares, Johansen Co-integration test and Pairwise granger causality methods were applied to the variables. The OLS result showed that the all share index had a significant but negative relationship with economic growth; The Johansen co-integration test showed that a long run relationship exists between the stock market performance and economic growth in Nigeria in the long run while the Granger causality test results showed that stock market performance does not granger cause economic growth but economic growth granger causes stock market performance at 5 percent significance level. The study suggested some of the possible reasons for the negative impact of stock market on the Nigerian economic growth and recommended that efforts should be made to improve the stock market performance to have a positive effect on the real gross domestic product of Nigeria overtime.

The Effects of El Nino on Agricultural GDP of Ethiopia

End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition is at the heart of the sustainable development goals. At the same time, climate change is already impacting agriculture and making the challenge even more difficult. In many parts of the world, much of the year-to-year variation in climate is traced to the El Nino episode. This paper uses El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index to examine the effect of El Nino shock on agricultural GDP of Ethiopia. The paper employed Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model in analysing 26 years time series data. Before regressing the data, activities such as lag selection, unit root test, Johansen Cointegration test, and diagnostics test were done. The result of the study shows that an incidence of El Nino phenomena truncate agricultural GDP of Ethiopia by 13.59 percent. The result is statistically significant at less than 5 percent significant level. And also 92.66 percent of the total variation in the model is explained by the explanatory variables. Thus the nation should work hard in adoption of water harvesting technology, irrigation, drought resistance and perennial crops to mitigate the consequence of El Nino shock.

Relationship Between Stock Market and Manufacturing Sector in India: An Empirical Study

The study examines the empirical relationship between stock market and manufacturing sector in India using monthly time-series data for the period January 1991 to June 2016. The study uses index of manufacturing production to represent the movements in the manufacturing sector and BSE sensex to represent stock market movement. The study finds that there is positive correlation (0.94) between stock market and manufacturing sector and the null of no bi-directional causality is rejected by Granger causality test at 10 percent level of significance in India. The study emphasises on the lead/lag relationship between stock market and manufacturing sector growth. The both Engle-Granger and Phillips-Ouliaris cointegration tests suggest that, at 10 percent level of significance, there is long run relationship between stock market and manufacturing sector in India with lag 2 over the study period. However, by and large, as we infer the positive relationship between stock market development and manufacturing sector growth, we may recommend that the capital market regulators should implement effective policy frameworks towards the development of Indian stock market in order to substantially enhance the size, depth and liquidity of the Indian stock market which in turn leads to increased economic activities.

English

Yilmana Densa is one of the potential wheat growing District in West Gojam Zone, but the level of adoption is not studied for the last 15 years and a number of farmers are still using local varieties which are known for their low yield and disease susceptibility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify potential factors affecting adoption of improved bread wheat variety, using the logistic regression (binary logit) analysis. A three stage (purposive for wheat growing kebeles, simple random sampling for sample kebeles and systematic random sampling for sample households) sampling procedure was employed to select the sample households. Finally, 120 sample respondents were selected from the sampling frame based on probability proportional to size (PPS) of wheat growers using systematic random sampling procedure. Secondary data (sampling frame, population, productivity etc) were collected from different sources. Quantitative data (farm income, farming experience, farm size, family size, etc), qualitative data (access to; credit, extension contact, input, field day etc) were also gathered. The result indicated that out of 21 identified explanatory variables, 11 of them had affected adoption significantly. Over all, of 120 sample respondents, only 35.83% (N=43) were found to be adopters of improved bread wheat varieties whereas 64.17% (N=77) of wheat growing farmers are being used local variety named Kubsa which was released before two decades and became susceptible to yellow rust and other foliar diseases. Institutional factors have been found overweighed than individual, economic and kebele (the lowest administration hierarchy in Ethiopia) level factors. The study revealed that giving due consideration for the significant variables would promote the adoption of improved bread wheat varieties. Furthermore, policy and development interventions should also be consolidated. The model result indicated that (the model chi-square value) the parameters indicated in the model taken together were significantly different from zero at less than 1 percent level of significance. The value of chi-square (×2 = 105.24) also indicated the goodness of fitted model. The chi-square goodness-of-fit test statistics of the model shows that the model fits the data with significance at 1% level. This shows that the independent variables are relevant in explaining the farmers’ decision to adopt improved bread wheat varieties. Key words: Adoption, bread wheat, logit model, Yilmana Densa.

Capital Market and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This study seeks to evaluate the contribution of capital market to the growth of Nigeria’s economy. To achieve this objective, an error correction model was estimated for economic growth in Nigeria, using Vector Error Correction techniques on an annual time series data spanning from 1981 to 2014. The data were subjected to Phillip Perron Unit Root Test at level and first difference. The result shows that, at one percent significance level, all the variables were stationary at first differencing. The result of the normalized cointegrated series further reveals that market capitalization rate, total value of listed securities, labor force participation rate, accumulated savings and capital formation are significant macroeconomic determinants factors of economic growth in Nigeria. It was then recommended that, for the capital market to realizes its full potentials, its environment must be enabled to promote and encourage investment opportunities for both local and international investors, since the stock market operates in a macroeconomic environment. Consequently, an improvement in the Nigerian trading system with the aim of increasing the ease with which investors can purchase and sell shares, could guarantee the stock market liquidity

Impact of Capital Market on Domestic Resource Mobilization for Economic Development in Nigeria (2000-2015)

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;study investigated the impact of Nigerian capital market on domestic resource mobilization for economic development,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;using time series data from 2000 to 2015. The study employed secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, the Nigerian Stock Exchange Fact Book and Securities and Exchange Commission database. To evaluate the impact of the independent variables on the dependent, the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method of estimation was employed. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;test was used to identify the order of integration. Economic growth was proxied by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while the capital market variables considered include: Market Capitalization (MCAP), Total New Issues (TNI) and Value of Transactions (VLT).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;Applying Johansen and Juselius co-integration test, the result showed that there was at most one co-integrating equation in the model, implying that there is a long run relationship between the variables in the model. The causality test results suggest bidirectional causation between the GDP and the Value of Transactions (VLT) and to the GDP but not vice-versa. Using two-tailed test, the F-statistics is significant at 5 percent level of significance. Furthermore, there was no evidence of reverse causation from GDP to market capitalization and there was no evidence of independence causation between the GDP and Total New Issues (TNI).&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;The study showed that the major problem with domestic resource mobilization in Nigeria have been that not enough savings are being generated to facilitate the required investment. Also, the type of savings available does not easily make financial intermediation possible. The Nigerian stock market has been constrained by policies that tend to make the exchange look like a mechanism by which government raise loan finance rather than an instrument for mobilizing industrial finance. It is recommended therefore that the regulatory authority should appraise and modify the restrictive policies that constrained resource mobilization capacity of the Nigerian capital market.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

A comparison of the effect of foreign portfolio equity on stock returns of listed banking and non- banking institutions in Kenya

Uncertainties in the flow of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) result in unpredictable behaviour of stock returns in Kenya’s economy and also at the firm level. The net effect of this is the possibility of financial loss suffered by the banking and non-banking institutions. The objective of the study was to compare the effects of foreign portfolio equity on stock returns of listed banking and non- banking institutions in Kenya. The study used purposive sampling technique and concentrated on 14 banking and non-banking institutions listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Secondary data was obtained from Central bank of Kenya, Nairobi securities exchange and capital markets authority for the period January 2008 to December 2014. The study used causal research design, and adopted a panel data regression using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method where the data included time series and cross-sectional data that was pooled into a panel data set and estimated using panel data regression. Results from panel estimation showed that exchange rate risk had a significant negative coefficient of -0.8371 with a P- value of 0.0020 for banking institution and negative coefficient of -0.6023 with a significant P- Value of 0.0673 for non-banking institutions. The results are statistically significant at one percent level of significance and five percent level of significance for banking and non-banking institutions respectively. Inflation had significant negative coefficient of -1.7550 with a P- value of 0.0210 in relation to stock returns for banking institutions and an insignificant negative coefficient of -0.6875 with a P- value of 0.4569 for non-banking institutions. The results indicate that the stock returns of banking institutions are affected by inflation while inflation has no effect on non-banking stock returns. The study recommended that policies that would attract foreign portfolio investment should be pursued in order to enhance stock returns. Key words: Foreign portfolio equity, banking institutions, non-banking institutions, stock returns, Nairobi securities exchange.

Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in BRICS Nations: A Panel Data Analysis

The aim of this study is to determine the most significant factors that lead to continuous rise in the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the five most emerging economies of the world, that is, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). The present study employs panel data regression analysis to find out the most significant determinants affecting the FDI inflows in BRICS countries as a whole. Under this technique, all the three regression models, that is, common constant (ordinary least square [OLS]), fixed effects, and random effects are tested to explore the determinants of FDI in BRICS countries over a period of 31 years, that is, 1983–2013 (except for Russia whose data is available from 1995–2013 for the selected variables in the study). The empirical results of the modified random effects model reveal that industrial production index (IPI), inflation rates, unemployment rates, trade openness and real effective exchange rate (REER) are significant at 1 percent significance level whereas labor cost is statistically significant at 10 percent significance level which means that these are the most significant determinants in attracting FDI inflows in BRICS countries. This study is significant because there are various researchers who have contributed to the literature of determinants of FDI but there is hardly any study which documents the factors attracting FDI inflows in BRICS countries covering a long period of more than three decades.

Nexus between Tourism and Gross Domestic Product in Sri Lanka

Nowadays, policy makers believe that the tourism is a positive tool for economic growth of nations because which helps to economies of countries by several ways. In Sri Lankan experience it was not statistically confirmed. The aim of this study was to test the nexus between the tourism earnings and the gross domestic product in Sri Lanka. To test this nexus this study used time series data during the period of 1970 to 2014, and employed the multiple regressions model. In this study, the gross domestic product in constant price was used as dependant variable and exchange rate, foreign remittance, tourism earning, and inflation rate were considered as independent variables. Based on the regression outcomes, this study found that the tourism positively maintained the nexus on the gross domestic product in Sri Lanka at five percent significant level.

Bank Specific and Macroeconomic Determinants of Bank Profitability: A Case of Nepal

The profitability of commercial banks is becoming a major concern these days and is gaining increasing importance because, in its absence, banks may collapse. The banking sector these days has gone less secure, and hence, the studies devoted to profitability of commercial banks assumes a greater significance. The objective of this study is to determine the factors affecting profitability of Nepalese commercial banks. It considers both bank specific and macro-economic factors. The study is based on pooled cross-sectional analysis of secondary data of 22 banks with 154 observations for the period 2005/06 to 2011/12. As a first approximation to the theory, this study hypothesizes that the profitability of the banks depends on several firm specific and macro-economic variables such as, credit deposit ratio, market share, GDP, inflation, liquidity and non-performing loans. The study revealed that average return on equity was 16.18 percent while the average return on assets was 14.42 percent. The average ratio of non-performing loan to total loans was observed to be 4.23 percent. The beta coefficients for inflation, liquidity, and non-performing loans were negative, while they were positive for credit to deposit ratio, market share and GDP. However, the coefficients were significant for credit deposit ratio and liquidity only at 5 percent level of significance. Thus, this study concludes that credit to total deposit ratio and liquidity are the major determinants of profitability of Nepalese commercial banks.

Capital Structure and Corporate Performance: A Case of Nepal

The objective of this study is to analyze the capital structure factors affecting the financial performance of commercial banks in Nepal. This study is based on pooled cross sectional data analysis of 19 commercial banks listed in NEPSE for the period of 2007/8-2013/2014 with 133 observations. The sample includes all sorts of commercial banks operating in Nepal like public sector, joint venture and privately owned banks. The performance measures in terms of return on assets, earnings per share and net interest margin are selected as dependent variables. Total debt to total assets ratio, long term debt to total debt ratio, short term debt to total debt ratio, size and credit risk are taken as independent variables.The study revealed that total debt to total assets ratio, long term debt to total assets ratio, short term debt to total assets ratio and size are negatively related to returns on assets whereas credit risk is positively related to returns on assets. It indicates that higher the debt in capital mix lower would be return on assets. Similarly, increase in credit risk leads to an increase in returns on assets. The result also shows that the total debt to total assets ratio, long term debt to total assets ratio and short term debt to total assets ratio are negatively related to earning per share whereas size and credit risk is positively related to earnings per share which reveals that increase in debt decreases in earnings per share. Likewise, total debt to total assets ratio, long term debt to total assets ratio and short term debt to total assets ratio are negatively related to net interest margin which indicates higher the debt in capital mix lower would be net interest margin. The result shows that there is positive relationship between bank size and net interest margin which reveals that increase in bank size will increase the net interest margin. The beta coefficients for total debt to total assets ratio, long term debt to total assets ratio and short term debt to total assets ratio were negative, while beta coefficients were positive for size and credit risk. However, the coefficients were significant for size and credit risk only at 5 percent level of significance. Thus, this study concludes that size and credit risk are the major factors affecting the financial performance of commercial banks in the context of Nepal.

Faturamento Hospitalar Sob a Lente da Qualidade Total Hospital Billing Under the Lens of Total Quality

The case study developed here compares two times within the same Hospital Health institution, by watching the progress and results in the reduction of hospital glosses after the implementation of the concept of total quality to the executor group's billing activity. It is a qualitative and quantitative, exploratory and documental study, developed through a case study in a hospital located in the State of Sao Paulo. To meet the goal highlighted in this work, as the basis for data collection and analysis, the assembly of a managed information bank was sought after so as to provide knowledge about the distribution of hospital glosses according to occurrence place, incidence and type. The variables were described as means ± standard deviations and frequencies. Means were compared using the Student t test, with a five percent significance level. At the same time, we sought to evaluate the role and the importance of practical application of the concept of total quality management in the hospital. As a result it is concluded that overall quality techniques resulted in better results as regards the reduction of hospital glosses.

Impact of Fiscal Deficit on Inflation in Sri Lanka: An Econometric Time Series Analysis

There is a relationship between the fiscal deficit and inflation, which was confirmed empirically in several studies conducted in many countries. Sri Lanka has been encountering the problem of inflation for the recent years. But in Sri Lanka, this proposition has not yet been studied scientifically. Therefore, this study was going to fill this gap. The objective of this study was to test the impact of fiscal deficit on inflation in Sri Lanka. For this study, the annual time series data were used during the period of 1959 to 2013. The fiscal deficit, exchange rate, government expenditures and import outflow were used as independent variables while the Colombo consumer price index was considered as dependent variable. In addition, the multiple regressions model was used to test the impact of fiscal deficit on inflation. Based on the regression results, the fiscal deficit preserved the positive relationship with inflation in Sri Lanka at one percent significant level. Therefore, this study confirmed that the fiscal deficit accelerates the inflation in Sri Lanka.

Determinants of Value Addition Initiatives Use by Fish Farmers in Kwara and Kogi States, North Central Nigeria

The paper examines the activities of fish farmers as it relates to their use of value addition initiatives in fish farming and highlights the determinants of use of these initiatives in Kwara and Kogi States, Nigeria. A well-structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from two hundred and twenty respondents selected using a two The findings indicated that the fish farmers fall into the economically active age group with a mean age of 44.1 years, majority (75.5%) were males, married (78.2%) and had one level of formal education or the other (83.1%). The respondents value ad was still very low among the respondents and t significant difference (even at 5 percent level of significance) in the level of use of value addition initiatives among the two constituent States of Kwara and Kogi. Logistic regression model of determinants of value addition initiatives use revealed that characteristics of household that were more likely to use value addition initiatives include the younger fish farmers; with larger household size; higher educational qualification; higher percentage contribution of fish farm income to total income and those with more years of fish farming experience. The study recommends an urgent need to package robust training programmes and advisory services for fish farmers by extension and other stakeholders and amelioration of the highlighted severe constraints in order to enhance their use of value added initiatives thereby making them to be able to tap into all the available potentials that exist in aquaculture sector. Copyright@2015 STAR Journal