Abstract:
This study was carried out on the contribution of bushmeat marketing to sustainable livelihood and poverty alleviation in Southwest Nigeria. It specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of bushmeat marketers in the study areas; identified the species of animals traded and other marketing activities at the bushmeat trade points; determined the structure and conduct of bushmeat marketing; determined the costs and returns of bushmeat marketing in the study areas and described the contribution of bushmeat marketing to household income and poverty alleviation in the study areas. The sites for data collection were purposively selected based on the availability of bushmeat marketing in the respective sites. Data was obtained through field observations and interview of 102 bushmeat marketers. The study population comprised of bushmeat marketers at the major bushmeat sale centres in Southwest Nigeria namely, Ondo, Osun and Ogun States. Descriptive statistics, Gini Coefficient, Gross Margin, t-test and Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty index were used to analyze the data collected. The results revealed that 56.9% of the respondents were females, the mean and median age were 40.8years and 41.0 years respectively which signifies that the respondents were active and productive to cope with the rigours of processing and sales of bushmeat. Grasscutter was mostly traded, followed by porcupine and pangolin. The methods of bushmeat preservation were smoking, salting, boiling, frying and freezing. A Gini Coefficient of 0.3819 obtained in this study shows a high level of concentration in the bushmeat market. The profitability analysis showed that an average marketer incurred an Average Total Variable Cost of N25,272.64 monthly and earned an average revenue of N74,034.8 monthly which signifies that an average bushmeat marketer earned N 48,762.16 as gross income. The profitability analysis further revealed that the bushmeat trade is profitable with a Return on Investment of 1.56%. Furthermore, the poverty analysis
