Abstract:
The study examined the Economic Analysis of Artisanal Fish Marketing in Ondo State of Nigeria using I1aje and Ese-Odo Local Government Areas as case study. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. For the primary data, 100 fish sellers from each local government area were randomly sampled with the aid of structured questionnaire and interview schedule, making a total of 200 respondents. The study looked at the socio-economic characteristics, assess the structure and determined the profitability of Artisanal fish marketing in the study area. Methods of data analysis used included, descriptive statistics, Concentration Ratio, Gin i-Coefficient, Lorenze curve, Harfindahl index and
Gross margin analysis of Artisanal fish marketing in the study area.
The result of the study showed that, there was no evidence of product differentiation. Structural indicators tends towards a situation of pure competition. The Gini-Coefficient for I1aje study area was 0.33 while that of Ese-Odo was 0.35 and Gini-Coefficient for both study areas was 0.34 suggesting low concentration. The Harfmdhal index was 0.03 for I1aje study area and 0.04 for Ese-Odo while 0.03 was for both study areas which tends towards a pure competition. It further showed that operational efficiency varied between 11- 20010 with a mean of ]5.5% which was considered low The t test showed that
there is significant difference between the estimated marketing margin and the estimated marketing cost as N146.94 was the mean marketing margin while N61.06 was the mean marketing cost of Ondo state Artisanal fish marketing industry. For the pricing efficiency, the t calculated was 5.53 while t tabulated was 1.6 implying that there are opportunities to rarse the present level of operational efficiency. The study also revealed that Artisanal fish marketing was profitable in the study areas as N51. I 9 and N29.37 were the gross margin per Kilogram for Ilaje and Ese-Odo respondents respectively.
However, high transport cost, inadequate storage faci Iities, inadequate funding created bottleneck to the Artisanal fish marketing system. It is therefore recommended that, programmes which involve marketing strategies, fund acquisition and generation, proper record keeping should be organized for a Artisanal fish marketers. Also, provision of credit facility, special cooling vehicles, and cooling infrastructure that could reduce quantitative and qualitative losses should be made available to artisanal fish marketers. The fish marketers should be organized into forming a more formidable fish marketing cooperative
society.
