The effects of transportation system on food marketing and security in Nigeria

Abstract

Food is wasted at all stages of the food chain, from production and harvest all the way through to post-purchase by the consumer. In developing countries the highest losses occur at the post-harvest stage, typically owing to such factors as spillage and spoilage brought about by inadequate transport and storage infrastructure. This paper therefore examines how transportation systems affect food marketing and security in Nigeria. A total of 300 respondents were randomly selected and interviewed which represented 20% of the registered food traders within the study area while the analysis of the data obtained were based on simple statistics supported by a series of tables showing percentage distribution of some variable. For the rank analysis, the variables; strongly agree, agree, neutral and disagree and strongly disagree were given these values namely 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1and 0.5 by multiplying them with the number agreeable to the variables and then summed up. In conclusion, it has been observed that the inadequacy in transportation facilities, high cost of transport and high level of wastage due to poor storage and processing facilities in the study area has affected greatly the level of food marketing and security in the study area.