Women in Agriculture (WIA) and Rural Households' Welfare in Contribution of Snail Production Business to the Income of Snail Farmers in Edo South, Nigeria

This study examined the contribution of snail production to the income of snail farmers in Edu South of 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 stud:area, examine the effect of snail production on income of snail farmers and identity the constraint, to the production of snail in the study area.A two-stage sampling technique comprising purposive and snowballing sampling techniques was employed to select I 08 respondents for the stud:,.. However, 100 respondents provided useful information that was used for the analysis. Data wcrl collected using structured questionnaire. Analysis of data was Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and budgeting technique (such as gross margin and net profit analyses as well as return on investment).The results indicated that majority of the respondents were females (61 <\;, l with average age of38 years. Most of them were married (81%) with average household size or~ persons. They had average experience in snail rearing of 8 years andmost of them (88%) v\trl literate. The results further showed that the business of snail production in the study area \\,1, profitable with gross margin, net profit and return on investment of N359,455.00, W339,533.(li_l and 2.04 per annum respectively. Without income from snail production, the snail rearers had average annual income from other sources oflivelihood ofWl,377,519.00.The farmers had average annual income ofWl,717,052.00 with income from snail production accounting for 20%. Of all the sources of income available to the respondents, snail production's contribution was the highest except income from civil service (22.18%). Thus, snail production had made remarkable contribution to improving the income of the snail producers.