BIG DATA TOOLS AND PERFORMANCE OF AGRIBUSINESS IN RIVERS STATE

DICK, Aa-nu Sunday
Department of Office and Information Management
Faculty of Management Sciences
Rivers State University, Port Harcourt
aanudick@gmail.com
ELEKWACHI, Happiness Nwanyi
Department of Office and Information Management
Faculty of Management Sciences
Rivers State University, Port Harcourt
ALALIBO, Otonye O.
Department of Office and Information Management
Faculty of Management Sciences
Rivers State University, Port Harcourt
ABSTRACT
This study examined Big Data tools and performance of agribusiness. The dimensions of Big Data tools
adopted are data mining and data analytics; while product quality and market availability were adopted
as measures of agribusiness performance. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of
the study comprised 90 registered agribusinesses in Rivers State. A Sample size of 74 agribusinesses was
determined using the Taro Yamane formula for sample size determination. A total of 74 structured
questionnaire were distributed to the sample elements. However, the final analyses was based on data
gleaned from 60 copies of the questionnaire, which upon retrieval, were found to be correctly completed
and free from errors. The Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation was used to examine the extent to which
proxies of Big Data tools relate to metrics of agribusiness performance. The results showed that there is a
positive and statistically significant relationship between Big Data tools (data mining and data analytics)
and performance of agribusiness (product quality and market availability) in Rivers State. The study thus
concludes that Big Data tools inform enhanced performance of agribusinesses in Rivers State and
recommends that government should support agribusiness by providing agricultural loan to
investors in agribusiness; and establish special research centres for agribusiness development.
Keywords: Agribusiness performance, big data tools, data analytics, data mining, market availability,
product quality