Awareness of cashew products potentials and market information among farmers in Kogi state, Nigeria

The inadequate recognition and exploitation of cashew potentials pose serious problems to farmers and stakeholders in Nigeria in terms of sustainability of the sub sector. The study investigated the awareness of cashew products potentials and marketing information among farmers. Sixty respondent farmers were sampled in Kogi State , which accounts for a total cultivated area of above 30,000ha of cashew in Nigeria . A systematic random sampling technique was employed in selecting the respondents. Data were collected with the use of well-structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient (PPMC). Average age of respondents was 49 years and 88.3% were males. 90.7 percent had some form of education and an average farmer had 17 years of farming experience. 48.3 percent of the respondents cultivates between 0.8-8ha. All the respondents were aware of most cashew products: kernels, juice, wine, fuel wood and Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL). 96.7 percent had access to different market information. Farm size (0.0512), farming experience (0.0001) and farmers' knowledge (0.0025) significantly (p