Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 1
Written by Docas Lola ALABI, Michael FAMAKINWA, Sunday Idowu OGUNJIMI

The study investigated the basic problems confronting the growth of non-farm household-based enterprises among male and female rural entrepreneurs in Osun state, Nigeria and examined the potential prospects of these enterprises to the development of rural economy. Snow ball sampling procedure was employed to select 100 male and 100 female entrepreneurs for the study from four LGAs of the state. Data were described with frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation while ANOVA was used for inferential purpose. The results show that 55% and 59% of male and female respectively engaged in processing of agricultural produce. The mean ages for male and female entrepreneurs were 44.47 and 45.92 years respectively; the mean household sizes were 6 and 5 persons while the mean monthly net income was N16, 878 and N17,638 for male and female respectively. Identified constraints included shortage of capital (mean=2.36; 2.53), inadequate managerial skill (mean=1.67; 1.83), increasing demand for imported goods (mean=1.62; 1.50) while potential prospects include; serving as income source during agricultural off seasons (mean=4.67; 4.78), employment generation (mean=4.67; 4.78) and poverty alleviation (mean=4.40; 4.34) for male and female respectively. ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference in the constraints faced by male and female entrepreneurs and no significant difference in the prospects of the enterprises among male and female respondents. Based on the findings, the study concluded that despite the fact that these enterprises were faced with multiple challenges, they hold great prospects for economic transformation of both male and female entrepreneurs. Opportunities for the growth of these enterprises exist in employing strategies like strong linkage of the entrepreneurs to financial institutions, low interest rate, public re-orientation for indigenous products, provision of adequate infrastructural facilities and entrepreneurial education for skill acquisition. It therefore recommended a holistic intervention of all relevant institutions including finance, education and the government to assist these small business owners to scale up their operation from the subsistence level, thereby enhancing rural entrepreneurship development.

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