BANANA AND PLANTAIN MARKETING IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

 
The study was designed to analyze the marketing of banana and plantain in Enugu State. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of banana and plantain marketers; identify the marketing channels for the crops, examine the structure of the marketing system for both crops, estimate their marketing margins at both wholesale and retail levels, estimate the rate of price transmission and market integration among banana and plantain markets, and identify the constraints facing the marketing of both crops. The study adopted survey research design. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to compose a sample of 160 respondents (30 wholesalers and 50 retailers for banana, and 30 wholesalers and 50 retailers for plantain). Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Time series data on retail prices of banana and plantain from 2007 to 2011 were obtained from Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADEP). Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using Gini coefficient, marketing margin analysis, Johansen co-integration test, Vector error correction model, 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 experience were seven and 13 years respectively. Also, 78.30% of the wholesalers obtained their products in heaps directly from producers while 21.70% bought from rural assemblers. Most of 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 and plantain retailers and wholesalers showed low levels of inequitable distribution of income amongst 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 that there 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 price transmission 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 of banana had low rate of price transmission, while the ECM result (-0.12 and -0.30) for the rural 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, high cost of transportation and heavy imposition of tax/levies are significant constraints to plantain and banana marketing in the study area. The study therefore recommended that government should set up fiscal and monetary policies that will stabilize price for consumable products like banana and plantain, and that government should reduce the high inequality that exists among retailers by making available adequate credit to market participants at appropriate interest rates. Finally, government should formulate and implement policies targeted at improving infrastructures such as roads and providing market information outfit that disseminates information timely to marketers for improved marketing of banana and plantain.