Keywords
Profitability
Gini coefficient
Marketing efficiency
Vegetables
Abuja
How to Cite
Abstract
The study examined the economics of wholesale vegetable (tomato, onion, and pepper) marketing in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abuja, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to: describe the socio – economic characteristics of vegetable marketers, determined the structure of the vegetable market, determined the profitability of vegetable marketing, analysed efficiency of the market and identified the constraints of vegetable marketing. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Primary data were obtained from the structured questionnaires administered to the respondents. Descriptive statistics, Gini-coefficient, Gross Margin analysis and Marketing Efficiency anlysis were used to analyse the data. The result from socio-economic characteristics of the respondents revealed that majority (92%) of the respondents were males, 52% were young marketers, 86% married, 100% were literate and most of them had experience of 11 – 15 (36%) years. The Gini-coefficient of 0.614 indicates high concentration of sellers in the vegetable market, thus the market is less competitive and has imperfect characteristics. The result of the Gross Margin analysis showed that vegetable marketing is profitable in the study area with Gross Margin of N120, N400 and N900 for tomato/basket, onion/bag and pepper/basket respectively. The result of market efficiency revealed efficiency levels of 106%, 126% and 107% for tomato, pepper and onion, respectively, thus vegetable marketing is efficient. The study further identified insufficient storage facilities, bad weather condition and inadequate capital as the most important constraints of vegetable marketers in the study area. It can be concluded that the vegetable market in Abuja is characterised by well experienced, young and literate married men that participate in an efficient, profitable but less competitive imperfect market, which is faced with problems of poor storage facilities and inadequate capital. The study recommends that government should intervene by providing the marketers with good storage facilities to reduce loss due to spolage and also provide loans to facilitate their business. The marketers on their side should form cooperatives to give them a greater chance to access loans.
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