ANALYSIS OF MARKETING STRUCTURE AND CONSUMPTION OF FRESH MANGO FRUITS IN MINNA METROPOLIS OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Abstract The study analyzes the marketing structure and consumption of fresh mango fruits in Minna metropolis. Eight fresh mango fruit markets were sampled for the survey namely Gwadabe, Chanchaga, GidanMangoro, PZ, TunganGoro and Maikunkele. They were purposively selected within the metropolis. 99 traders were drawn using simple random sampling from the stated markets. Data were collected using questionnaires.Similarly, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Gini coefficient index, Ordinary least square regression techniques and marketing margin. Results of the analysis indicated that most (61.6%) of the traders were within the active age brackets of 25 – 54 years. All (100%), of the traders were found to be male, married (88.8%),literate (93.0%) and trading experience of 1 – 20years (57.6%). The Gini coefficient index of the market was found to be 0.60, which revealed that the market is an imperfect market due to high net margin (63.1%),low producer share (22.7%) and economies of scale among few traders. Analysis of the challenges revealed high transportation cost (27.3%), poor storage facilities (23.2%) and inadequate credit facilities (17.2%). To improve the system, it is recommended that the traders should be encouraged to form cooperative societies or groups and government should be concerned with improvement of infrastructures, such as storage/processing facilities, construction and repair of feeder roads/rail-line, and above all traders should be assisted with marketing credits to avoid “force” sells of their products which often erode their profit.