Efficiency of Vegetable Marketing in Peri-Urban Areas of Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Against the backdrop evidenced in the substantial wastage, deterioration in quality, and frequent mismatch between demand and supply of vegetables spatially and overtime; this study examined the efficiency of vegetable marketing in Ifo and Ado-Odo L.G.As of Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary data were employed for the study. Data were collected from 120 respondents with the aid of structured questionnaire using multistage sampling procedure. Analytical tools used included, Descriptive statistics, budgetary and marketing efficiency analyses. The study revealed that women (78.3%) were the major players in the enterprise and most had basic education with majority having business experience of more than five years. However, they relied on their personal savings to run their enterprise. Indigenous vegetable marketing was found to be profitable and efficient as indicated by the positive net margin of N29,180.05. As an indication of the profit maximization motive of the marketers, various marketing efficiency scores were computed for the selected indigenous vegetables. The scores are 10.85%, 3.88%, 5.27%, 2.54%, 5.32%, and 2.46% for ugu, tomato, okra, amaranthus, celocia and chocorus, respectively. It is recommended that extension trainings on preservation of indigenous vegetables should be conducted and accessible funds should be made available to these marketers, to forestall the problem of spoilage and lack of funds, as these constituted major drawbacks on marketing efficiency in the study areas.