Economic analysis of frozen fish demand in Katsina metropolis, Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

Demand for frozen fish has been on the increase due to knowledge on the nutritive value of fish as a source of animal protein. This study was carried out to examine the determinants of frozen fish demand in Katsina metropolis in Katsina State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional data from purposively sampled 89 respondents was used; descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The socioeconomics characteristics of the sampled frozen fish consumers indicated 65% male with majority (62.9%) between the ages of 21 and 40 years. Those with tertiary education constitute 70 and 43.8% are civil servants. Also 57.3% of the respondents are married with 68.5% having household size between 1 and 5. The linear regression result showed that the adjusted R2 is 0.424 with F-ratio of 6.45 which is significant at 1% level. Majority of the respondents (44.94%) in the study area are in the high income group. The own price elasticity was found to be 0.78, which indicated that demand for frozen fish in the study area is inelastic, while the cross price elasticities for chicken and beef were -0.076 and -0.63, respectively, which implied that frozen fish and chicken and beef are complimentary goods in the area. Also, the income elasticity is 0.11, which implied that frozen fish is a normal good in the study area. The research established that price of fish, consumer’s income, household size, educational status and species of fish are important factors influencing demand for frozen fish in the study area.