ABSTRACT

The study "Analyses of Dynamics of Honey Marketing in Abia State, Nigeria" was conducted in Abia State. The specie objectives were to examine the socio-economic characteristics of respondents, determine the market structure with respect to degree of market concentration, analyze the cost and returns, marketing margin and marketing efficiency, and identify the factors influencing profits among both retailers and wholesalers. A total of 85 marketers comprising of 40 wholesalers and 45 retailers as well as 100 customers were selected from a local government belonging to one of the Agricultural zones of the State, thus, 120 respondents were selected and interviewed with well-structured questionnaires. The result showed that males dominated the both markets with a fair distribution of ages. The Gini coefficient values for wholesalers and retailers were given as 0.08 and 0.20 respectively. This result implies that there was high equality in sales value in the both markets. The marketing margins and efficiency were high indicating the existence of excellent performance in the entire honey market. The multiple regression analysis showed that there were significant factors influencing marketers 'profits. it showed that marketing experience and patronage size were positively related to profits in both markets too. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government should provide rural areas with developmental project so as to reduce youth 's urban migration and thus get them involved in honey marketing and as well provide marketers with market grants or loans at very low interest rate so as to to improve on the viability of honey marketing in the study area. There is need to curb the anomaly of excess hike in transport cost by transporters which is in turn exploited by honey marketers. Marketers on their own are advised to form cooperatives. This would make for interactions and transfer of ideas on market intricacies for the purpose of improving overall profits.