Economic Analysis of Crayfish Marketing in Anambra State, Nigeria

The study examined the economics of crayfish marketing in Anambra State, Nigeria, Its specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of crayfish marketers: Identified the marketing channels of crayfish in the area; estimated the profitability of crayfish marketing by the intermediaries; estimated the marketing efficiency level attained .by the intermediaries; established the determinants of net marketing income realized by the marketers and identified constraints to crayfish marketing in the area. The multistage sampling procedure was used to select two agricultural zones (Onitsha and Awka), 12 daily markets and 120 respondents (60 wholesalers and 60 retailers) for the study. Well, a structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents for the cross-sectional data collection on the marketing variables. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique, Shephard-Futrell technique and multiple regression analysis. Findings on the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents revealed that there were more female than male in crayfish marketing and the majority (91%) of the respondents had no access to credit facilities. The study revealed three level marketing channels where the majority (78%) of the respondents identified channels one (fishermen/supplier wholesalers retailers consumers) as the most frequently patronized. The second channel was (fishermen retailers consumers), while the third was (fishermen wholesalers -restaurants/hotels). The report also indicated that the retailers realized more profit than the wholesalers and there was a high level of inefficiency among the wholesalers (95.12%) than the retailers (81.67%). Findings on the effects of socio-economic factors of the respondents on net marketing income showed that marital status, marketing cost, access to credit and product price had significant influences on net marketing income while age, gender, educational level and marketer's years of experience were not significant. The wholesalers identified inadequate storage facilities as the highest constraint to crayfish marketing in the area; followed by high transportation cost, high market fees, unstable price, lack of access to loan and inadequate capital. While the retailers implicated high market fees as their major constraint, followed by inadequate capital, unstable price, lack of access to loan, inadequate storage facility and high cost of transportation as the least problem.