Economic Analysis of Marketing Locally Milled Rice at Micro Scale in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria

OJUMU, SEGUN AND ADEYELU, ADEGOKE

Department of Agricultural Extension and Management

Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Email: segojum@yahoo.com, adegokeadeyelu@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Nigeria is a major producer, importer and consumer of rice in Africa. The country produces and mills about 60% of the quantity of rice being consumed by its citizens. Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State is a significant producer of paddy rice in the South-South Zone and major supplier of same to the popular Abakaliki Small Scale Rice Mills. The study examined the profitability of marketing locally milled rice at micro scale level in the Local Government Area. Five villages were purposively sampled for the study due to the high population of rice traders/marketers within them. They were Bansara, Ebung, Ekwaro, Down Ibil and Ishiaya. The study depended mainly on primary data which were collected through structured questionnaires, oral interviews, personal observations and the use of a weighing scale. A total number of fifty (50) questionnaires were administered to rice traders who were randomly selected from the five (5) villages and ten (10) respondents from each village. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgeting analysis, profitability analysis and marketing efficiency measures. The results of the study revealed that the majority of rice traders were male, literate and within economically productive age bracket. An average net income of N2726.5 per 100kg paddy rice was obtained for rice traders with an average rate of return of 0.35 and a gross ratio of 0.73. The marketing efficiency measure showed that rice traders had a marketing efficiency index of 1.38. The major challenges of the rice traders were insufficient supply of paddy rice and lack of access to credit.