Banana and plantain marketing in enugu state, nigeria

Project Abstract

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

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