Thesis Abstract

The study was designed to analyze the marketing of banana and plantain in Enugu State. Thespecific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of banana andplantain marketers; identify the marketing channels for the crops, examine the structure of themarketing system for both crops, estimate their marketing margins at both wholesale andretail levels, estimate the rate of price transmission and market integration among banana andplantain markets, and identify the constraints facing the marketing of both crops. The studyadopted survey research design. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to compose asample of 160 respondents (30 wholesalers and 50 retailers for banana, and 30 wholesalersand 50 retailers for plantain). Data for the study were collected from both primary andsecondary sources.Time series data on retail prices of banana and plantain from 2007 to 2011were obtained from Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADEP). Primarydata were collected using structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using Ginicoefficient, marketing margin analysis, Johansen co-integration test, Vector error correctionmodel, and descriptive statistics. The result showed that majority of the respondents (87.50%)were females with average age of 35 years, 76.20% of them were married while 41.20%attained primary education. The mean scores for household size and marketing experiencewere seven and 13 years respectively. Also, 78.30% of the wholesalers obtained theirproducts in heaps directly from producers while 21.70% bought from rural assemblers. Mostof the retailers (78.00%) obtained their products in bunches from wholesalers while 28.00%bought from producers. Furthermore, the results of the Gini coefficient for banana andplantain retailers and wholesalers showed low levels of inequitable distribution of incomeamongst them. However, inequalities existed more at retail level than at the wholesale level.The mean marketing margin for plantain (21.62%) and banana (13.68%) retailers showed thatthere was a significant difference between them, while the marketing margins for plantain(11.65%) and banana (10.58%) wholesalers did not differ significantly. The analysis of pricetransmission and market integration showed that the Error Correction coefficient (-0.22 and –0.25) measured by the error correction mechanism (ECM) for the rural and urban prices ofbanana had low rate of price transmission, while the ECM result (-0.12 and -0.30) for therural and urban prices of plantain indicated also a low rate of price transmission; though,showing the presence of market integration. Also, low capital/initial investment, finance, highcost of transportation and heavy imposition of tax/levies are significant constraints to plantainand banana marketing in the study area. The study therefore recommended that governmentshould set up fiscal and monetary policies that will stabilize price for consumable productslike banana and plantain, and that government should reduce the high inequality that existsamong retailers by making available adequate credit to market participants at appropriateinterest rates. Finally, government should formulate and implement policies targeted atimproving infrastructures such as roads and providing market information outfit thatdisseminates information timely to marketers for improved marketing of banana and plantain.

Thesis Overview