The District has a number of small scale industries which are sparsely located in the district. They can be categorized broadly as, service industries and agro-processing industries. The services industries include hair dressing and dress making. The agro processing industries include cassava processing into gari, palm oil extraction and palm kernel oil extraction. There also other wood based activities such as carpentry in the district.  Of the respondents surveyed, 53 percent were engaged in agro-based industry, which comprises largely of gray processing and palm oil extraction, 17.5 percent of the industrial activities are wood based, 23.5 percent are textile based while the remaining 6 percent are services related.

Some of the constraints currently facing the small scale enterprises include inadequate funds to start up or expand their business operations.  Majority (70%) of the small scale operators do not have access to loans to invest in their operations.

There is also a problem of high interest rates, especially for those who access loans from the banks. This problem has seriously affected businesses, by preventing them from growing and expanding to meet the market demand. The implications of these problems have been the slow and limited growth of the small scale industries. There is therefore the need to increase access to credit with reasonable interest rate within the district, which among other things, improve the expansion and production capacities of the small scale industries to meet the market demand and eventually graduate into bigger enterprises

Ownership of Enterprises

Basically, most of the small scale industrial activities are owned by sole proprietors. About 68.8 percent small scale industries are owned and managed by individuals. About 13 percent of the businesses are owned by spouses while the remaining 18.2 are owned by families and groups. The fact that majority of the businesses are owned by individual signifies their low capital base and low level of production.

Types of Labour

The source of labour in the industrial sector is summarized in table.. Overall, only 16 percent of the labour force is paid-labour; 13.6 percent are apprentices; and 55 percent self labour. Almost all the respondents (99 percent) used labour intensive techniques with 1 percent employing capital intensive method of production. This is an indication that the industrial sector could in the near future absorb labour from the agricultural sector as it develops.

Sources of Finance

It is evident from the table that the contribution of financial institutions is clearly insignificant, as cooperatives constitute the main source of financing other than personal/ self savings. It is suggested that institutions like the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) should come in and help the industrialists through their Business Advisory Fund (BAF).

Commerce and Services

From the survey, 19 percent of the labour force is engaged in commerce and services in the district. The main items traded in are provisions and agricultural produce which together constitute 80% of goods on the market. The other services rendered in the district include bar/restaurants, hair dressing and dress making. The average monthly income of this sector is ¢350,000.  As much as 60 percent of those interviewed finance their business from their own source. The family and financial institutions as indicated in table 1.23 are the second important source of funding for this sector, with money lenders being relatively unimportant. The figure of enterprises that have the banks and other financial institutions as their sources of funds is not very high as many of the business owners do not have the required  collateral to qualify them for loans.

Problems faced by the commerce and services sector

The problems of traders are mainly lack of credit facilities, transportation and low patronage. From the survey, 22.5 percent of the traders interviewed had their major problem as the inadequacy of transportation facilities, 42.8 percent; as lack of credit facilities; with low demand accounting for 26.5 percent of the problems of traders.