TEMPORAL PRICING EFFICIENCY IN ONION IN NORTHERN WESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study examined the temporal pricing efficiency for onion in Sokoto and Kebbi Stats, North-western Nigeria. Data on onion retail price variations were collected fortnightly for the periods of 12 months (June 2002 to May 2003) from 16 market locations eight each in Sokoto and Kebbi States. Data on storage cost were collected through the administration of a structured questionnaire to 80 sampled onion traders. The data collected were analysed using simple linear regression analysis. The estimated storage cost was compared with price increase per month, estimated from the regression equation to each decision on temporal pricing efficiency. Results of the study revealed that the coefficient of determination R2 for all the market locations were between 0.602 and 0.973 indicating that the independent variable explained between 60.2% to 93.7% of variations in the dependent variable in the models. Result of the study also revealed that average seasonal price increase per kilogramme per month was in excess of average storage cost per kilogramme per month. It was thus concluded that there was no temporal pricing efficiency for onion marketing in the study area.