Utilization of Soybean products among rural households in Iseyin local government area of Oyo State

Abstract

Soybean is a cheap and important source of plant protein with numerous health benefits thus making it one of the researched plant crops which has drawn the attention of research institutions. This study was conducted in Iseyin Local government area of Oyo State to understand farmer’s awareness of soya bean products, to also know their knowledgeability of the nutritional and health benefits and also the constraints facing the adoption of soya bean products. A structured interview schedule was employed to collect data from 120 households through a multistage sampling procedure. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, mean and standard deviation, while inferential statistics such as chi-square and correlation were used in testing the hypothesis. The results revealed that a large proportion of the farmers were aware of different soybean products such as soymilk (100%) soy cheese (99.2%) and soybean cake (85.2%). The major constraint reported was the short shelf life of soybean products. The results also revealed a significant relationship between farmers level of awareness of soybean products and utilization (r= 0.286, p0.05) and between knowledge on nutrition and health benefits on the utilization of soybean products. This research calls for more efforts aimed at increasing the awareness of soybean products to help increase the nutritional status of rural households and communities through utilization of soybean products.