Contribution of snail production to income status of snail farmers in Edo South, Edo State, Nigeria

This study examined the contribution of snail production to the income status of snail farmers in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of snail producers, estimate the costs and returns of snail production in the study area, examine the effect of snail production on income of snail farmers and identify the constraints to the production of snail in the study area. A two-stage sampling procedure comprising purposive and snowballing sampling techniques was employed to select 108 respondents for the study. However, 100 respondents provided useful information that was used for the analysis. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics and budgetary techniques and t-test. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents were females (61%) with average age of 38 years. Most of them were married (81%) with average household size of five persons. They had average of eight years experience in snail rearing and most of them (88%) were literate. The results further showed that the business of snail production in the study area was profitable with gross margin, net profit and return on investment of ₦359,455.00, ₦ 339,533.00 and 2.04 per annum, respectively. Without income from this business, the snail farmers had average annual income of ₦1,377,519.00 from other sources of livelihood. With the addition of income from snail production, their average annual income increased to ₦1,717,052.00, representing 20% increase. This increase was significant at p < 0.05 (t-ratio = 5.02). Thus, snail production had made significant contribution to improving the income of the snail producers. It was recommended that the unemployed youths should go into the business of snail production in order to improve their income status.