Postproduction practices and training needs of cashew growers in Zambales and Bataan
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Date
1999
Authors
Helen R. Calica
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Abstract
The study sought to describe the socio-economic characterics, communication-related factors and existing cashew postproduction practices of the respondents and their perceived training needs on cashew postproduction.
A total of 47 cashew farmers served as respondents. Three barangays in the municipalities of Castillejos, Zambales and Limay, Bataan were chosen as study sites because these were the largest cashew production areas in Central Luzon.
An interview schedule was used in gathering data. Description of the characteristics and extent of training needs were analyzed using frequency counts, means, percentages and standard deviations. The relationship of the independent variables (soci-economic characteristics and communication -related factors) and the dependent variables were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient.
Results revealed that a typical cashew farmer was 53.81 years old, male, and reached elementary level of education. His relevant experience was about 17.02 years and his annual income was P3,337.45. His average farm size was 3.43 hectares, had an average of 227 fruit bearing cashew trees, and had low exposure to media, extension agents and training courses.
The current cashew postproduction practices operation were manual and traditional which was laborious and time consuming. Tools and equipment were either inappropriate or inadequate.
There was a low awareness but high interest in processing of cashew products. For this reason cashew farmers had only very few processed products.
In general, the areas on the nature and causes of postproduction losses in cashew, methods and techniques in packaging cashew apple products, principles and methods of shelling, methods and techniques in processing cashew apple products, methods and techniques in processing cashew nut and packaging of its products, financial and economic analysis of cashew processing, marketing systems and strategies were the perceived training needs of the farmers cited according to order of priority, while the primary operation such as harvesting, drying and storage were their least training needs since these operation were already known to them.
Of the six socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, only income derived from cashew and sex of the respondents registered significant correlation with certain perceived training needs. Respondents with high income correspondingly demonstrated high need for training in such areas as drying and storage.
Income from cashew farming showed positive and significant relationship to perceived training needs on drying and storage, implying that as the income increases, training needs on drying and storage also increases. The significant relationship between sex and perceived training needs on harvesting and shelling can be associated to the fact that harvesting was done mostly by women and they were interested in learning the easy way of shellin, particularly mechanized shelling.
Exposure to radio was significant and positively related to training needs on harvesting and storage, while exposure to television was significantly and positively related to storage. Moreover, contact to extension agents was also significantly and positively correlated with the training needs on harvesting, drying, storage, and marketing. This implies that as they are exposed to radio, television and extension agents the respondents' need for training on certain cashew postproduction operations increases.
Based on these results, the income, sex, exposure to radio, television, and extension agents which significantly influenced perceived training needs should always be considered in developing training modules/designs and/or training programs. The various channels of communication should also be used to provide cashew farmers with more opportunities to obtain meaningful information and experiences related to cashew postproduction.