PROFIT ANALYSIS AND MARKET STRUCTURE OF FRESH TOMATO MARKETING IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined profit analysis and market structure of fresh tomato marketing in Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described the market structure, market conduct, cost and returns and constraints to fresh tomato marketing in the study area. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 180 marketers (45 wholesalers and 135 retailers). Data were collected from primary source using structured questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed by means of descriptive analysis, Enterprise budgeting, Sherpherd-Futrel, Gini coefficient and Relative Importance Index (RII). From the result, market structure using Gini coefficient gave an index of 0.7565 and 0.7139 for wholesalers and retailers respectively. These values indicate a high level of income inequality in terms of sales margin distribution among marketers and a concentration of sales in the hands of a few individuals where certain marketers may have the ability to influence product prices. The result of marketing efficiency gave coefficients of 63% and 78% for wholesalers and retailers respectively. The level of inefficiency was higher (78.8%) among the retailers than the wholesalers (63%) implying that the wholesalers were more efficient in the marketing of fresh tomato than the retailers. The result of profitability of fresh tomato marketing showed that cost of stock was the important cost of marketing having represented 89.47% and 91.56% of the total cost of marketing for the wholesalers and retailers respectively. Net marketing income was ₦77,560,714.30 for wholesalers and ₦12,409,249.00 for retailers, proving that fresh tomato marketing is a profitable enterprise. The study recommended that government of all tiers should improve the road network in order to facilitate the movement of agricultural produce to diverse locations and fluctuation of prices of fresh tomato should be addressed by establishing a market board that regulates food prices.