Characterization of Production Technologies Employed by Selected Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Food Industry in Southwestern Nigeria

The study examined the production technologies used by selected small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry in Southwestern Nigeria. This is with a view to determining the extent to which production of quality foods is done with adopted technologies. The study was carried out in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States in Southwestern Nigeria where there is high concentration of food processing firms (FPFs). Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the local governments and towns with high concentration of FPFs in each state. Two hundred and fifty small and medium scale FPFs were selected using purposive sampling. Primary data were collected with two sets of questionnaire. The first set elicited information on the type and nature of production technologies and was administered on production managers of the firms. The second set elicited information on effectiveness of production technologies and was administered on one randomly selected production employee from each firm. Data collected were analyzed using mean and frequency distribution. The results showed that 48% of the production technologies of the firms were for baking, 31% were for filtration and 14.4% were used for pasteurization. Furthermore, 39.2% and 41.6% of the firms used automated and a mixture of automated and manual machines respectively. A total of 42% used imported machines, while 41.6% used a mixture of imported and local machines. Majority (74%) used batch production system. The study concluded that the reliance of firms on imported technologies, which they have poorly maintained, cannot help to achieve sustainable development in Nigeria.