ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SMOKED FISH MARKETING IN OWO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ONDO-STATE, NIGERIA

Economic analysis of smoked fish marketing in Owo Local Government Area (LGA) was studied. The markets were selected randomly from towns in the LGA, smoked fish marketers were interviewed from each market with the aid of structured questionnaire and personal interviews. The data collected was analyzed using gross and marketing margin, regression analysis and descriptive statistics such as frequency, minimum and maximum values and percentages. Results showed that 71% of smoked fish marketers were young people between the ages of 18 and 39 years, 23% of them were of middle age, between 40 and 49 years. While the remaining 6% were old people above 50 years of age. Also, 94% of the respondents had formal education, while the remaining 6% were illiterates. The gender distribution had 98% women and 2% men. The gross margin analysis showed that smoked fish marketing was a profitable venture. In the study area, the high marketing margin of N189, 726.00 on the average suggested that the marketing of smoked fish was inefficient. The regression analysis showed that the coefficient of multiple determinations (R²) of 0.946 implied that about 94.6% of variation in the sales value of smoked fish in the study area was explained by the variables: age of respondents, level of education, experience of smoked fish sellers, operating cost and acquisition cost included in the model. The variables of age, experience, education and acquisition cost had positive sign and were each less than unity. This implied that each of the variables used was in Stage II of the marketing function and was efficiently allocated. The variables of operating cost was negative implying that it is in Stage III of the marketing function and was inefficiently allocated, the use of which should be reduced so that it can come back to Stage II. The identified constraints to effective and efficient marketing of smoked fish included inadequate and high cost of transportation and lack of good roads.