Keywords
Women farmers
Soybean
Tobit model
Hawul
How to Cite
Abstract
The study was conducted in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere Local Government Areas of Borno State to analyze the structure and performance of cowpea markets in the study areas. All data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was administered to a sample of 60 cowpea marketers in the study Local Government Areas. The study revealed that 55% of the respondents in the study area were youths (-<20 - 40 years), 75% were male, 61% were married, 66% had household sizes of 6-10 persons, 41.7% had no formal education and about 53% of the respondents had more than 6 years of farming experience. Furthermore, it was revealed that the total variable cost was N9, 130. Also the analysis of the result shows that the average Gross Margin for retailers was N1, 870. The result of the study also revealed the value of Hirschman-Herfindahl index for wholesalers was 0.57 which indicates that the cowpea market in the study area is oligopolistic. The Hirschman-Herfindahl index for retailers was 0.026 which indicates there is increase in marketing competition among the retailers whereby there is a difficulty for the retailers to exercise market power. Based on the study conducted, it can be recommended that more incentives should be provided by government to encourage more individuals take up the business of cowpea marketing. This will increase the competition in cowpea marketing in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.
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