Constraints to the export performance of agro-based manufacturing firms in Nigeria

Résumé

This study evaluated the factors that hinder Nigerian agro-based firms' export performance. The probability proportional to size (PPS) selection approach was used to choose a sample of 127 agro-based enterprises from the functional 186 firms for this study to accomplish this goal. This study's goal was accomplished through the application of principal component analysis. According to empirical findings, Asia accounted for 46.46%, while the West (USA and Europe) absorbed 17% of Nigeria’s agro-based product exports. The result of the principal component analysis indicates that 51.22% of the variance was explained by four variables. Production and marketing restrictions make up the first factor (26.41%), followed by human capital and infrastructure constraints (9.20%), administrative or institutional constraints (8.22%), and financial constraints (7.39%). The study concludes that the export of the nation’s agro-based products is constrained by production and marketing, human capital and infrastructural challenges, and administrative/institutional challenges. The study recommends that government-sponsored programs should be improved and made more sustainable to help exporters and agro-based manufacturing companies to raise the quality of their goods. For Nigerian goods to satisfy international standards, these issues necessitate the upgrading of the power supply and the removal of administrative bottlenecks.