PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF FROZEN FOODS MARKETING IN IKORODU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE

¹Akerele, E. O, ²Pearse, O A,³Uthman-Akinhanmi, Y.O, ⁴Yangomodou, O.D,⁵Ilori, A.R. &⁶Fadipe M. O.

^1,2Department of Agricultural Economics and FarmManagement

^3,.4Department of Home and Hospitality Management

^{5, 6}Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology

Faculty of Agricultural Management and Rural Development

College of Agricultural Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University,Yewa Campus, AyetoroOgun State, Nigeria

¹E-mail: akereleeze@gmail.com            

ABSTRACT

This study examined the profitability analysis of frozen foods market in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of frozen foods consumers; know the various level of consumption of different frozen foods; determine the profitability of frozen food market; and identify the problems faced by frozen food marketers in the study area. One hundred and twenty (120) frozen food marketers were selected from villages/towns within the selected Local Government Area through the use of a random sampling technique. The frozen food marketers were interviewed using a well-structured questionnaire. Data collected from the frozen food marketers were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. With respect to socio-economic characteristics of the frozen food marketers, findings showed that majority of the marketers (95.8%) were female, large proportions (61.7%) were in their active years (31-50years), 66.7% were Christians, 70.8% were married. About 87.5% have one form of formal education to the other with an average household size of 8 persons, having trading as their major occupation and having marketing experience ranging from 6-10 years. In line with level of consumption of different frozen foods, majority (73.3%) consumed frozen fish regularly, 74.2% regularly consumed frozen chicken, 71.7% consumed frozen vegetables on regular basis and 70.8% consumed frozen fruits on regularly basis. Therefore, this study is concluded that frozen food marketing is a lucrative business despite the various bottlenecks being faced by the frozen food marketers in the study area. Based on these assertions, it is therefore recommended that improvements in market infrastructure such as storage facilities, cold storage, better road, good electricity etc. would also be helpful in improving the marketing profitability as well as providing solutions to problems associated with high cost of transportation, custom dues, lack of finance among others which were encountered by the frozen food marketers in the study area.

Keywords: Food, Cost, Market, Storage, Profit