Entrepreneurship and Strategic Development of Agribusiness Opportunities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of entrepreneurship on strategic development of agribusiness opportunities in Akwa Ibom State. It evaluated entrepreneurial traits such as skill development, pro-activeness, and innovativeness of SMEs entrepreneurs in the study area. Data were collected from 159 respondents drawn from six (6) Agricultural Zones (Abak, Eket, Etinan, Ikot Ekpene, Oron, and Uyo zones) across the three (3) senatorial district, comprising thirty-one (31) Agricultural Centers using structured questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, and means), and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation analysis). The results revealed that majority of the respondents (58.5 %) were male with highest occurring age class (38.4 %) being 40 – 49 years old. Most exploited opportunities in the study area were in the order Cassava farming > catfish production > poultry farming > fruit and Vegetable farming > maize farming with 37.1, 34, 30.8, 29.6 and 28.9 % of the respondents respectively. The study confirmed that there is a significant effect between elements of entrepreneurship and strategic development of agribusiness opportunities in the study area. Specifically, pro-activeness, and innovativeness had significant correlation, as skill development showed fairly significant correlation with number of agribusiness opportunities utilized by SMEs in the study area (p<0.05) with r = 0.243, 0.245 and 0.168, respectively. It was therefore inferred that innovativeness, pro-activeness, and skill level in that order are important entrepreneurial traits influencing strategic development of agribusiness opportunities for SMEs in Akwa Ibom State. Hence, it was recommended among others that government and non-governmental organizations should establish a well-equipped technology incubation center that can assist entrepreneurs to upskill their skills to boost their entrepreneurial orientation for strategic development of agribusiness opportunities for SMEs in the State.