Economic Analysis of Rice Processing in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

This study was undertaken to evaluate the profitability of rice processing in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. The state has three agricultural zones with rice industrial clusters located in each of them. One rice industrial cluster was selected from each of the three agricultural zones for this study; and one hundred respondents were randomly selected from each of the clusters. Thus, three hundred respondents were used as sample size for the study. Results of the multiple regression analysis showed that education level, household size, income level and years of rice processing experience had positive effects on profitability and were statistically significant at 5% level of probability. The results further revealed that the net farm profit of rice processors was N49,000.00 per 1000kg of paddy rice processed and hence it was concluded that rice processing is a profitable agribusiness enterprise in Ebonyi state, Nigeria.