Socio-Economic Contributions and Marketing of Garcinia Kola (Bitter Kola) in Ijebuode, Ogun State, Nigeria

: This study examined the socio-economic contribution and marketing of Garcinia kola to human livelihoods in Ijebu-ode Ogun State. Simple random sampling was used to select 100 respondents from the study area and questionnaires were distributed to the selected respondents. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents while Gini coefficient and cost and return analysis were used to analyze the market structure and profitability. The result showed that 95% of the respondents were females, 35-45 age category have the highest percentage (48%). The finding revealed that the Islamic religion pre-dominate the study area. Acquisition of occupational skill by majority (64%) was through apprenticeship i.e. learning. Price fluctuation was the major challenge (78%) faced by the respondents. The valuation and utilization of the bark of Garcinia kola for treatment of malaria has highest (84%) percentage while the seed was used by majority (60%) to cure cough. The study showed the average profitability of all the markets, New market has the highest gross profit (N8,500) while Oke-aje market has the lowest gross profit (N3,293.75). Computation of Gini-coefficient (G) helped to reveal the structure of the market. The result, G= 0.4708 indicates the oligopolistic nature of the market, which means the study areas were characterized by few sellers. Majority (90%) of the respondents revealed that trading in bitter kola is profitable than trading in other non-timber forest products. Based on this findings, it was recommended that bitter kola marketers in the study areas should endeavor to form a co-operative and also, banking industry in Ogun State Nigeria should be made to consider in giving out loans to the bitter kola traders to enable them to go on mass trading of the products since price fluctuation was the most severe constraint to bitter kola marketing in the study area.

The forest is one of the main stays of economic development in Nigeria, millions of households in developing countries and in Nigeria particularly depend on various products other than timber and other industrial round wood i.e.Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) which have always constituted a large part of the forest economy (Adeyoju, 2005).FAO has adopted a working definition which describes "Non-wood Forest Products as consisting of goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded lands and trees outside forests" (FAO, 2006).They include food items (such as honey, nuts, mushrooms and leaf fodder for animals), construction materials (including rattan and palm leaves), medicinal plants, other health care and cosmetic products and items of cultural and spiritual significance (FAO, 2006).Garcinia kola commonly known as 'bitter kola' is an economic and highly valued nut-bearing tropical tree available in large quantity in West Africa.Garcinia kola Heckel (Guttifirae) seeds ('bitter kola') which are widely consumed as a stimulant (Famuyide et. al., 2012).Garcinia kola has great economic, value across West Africa; and the seeds are of particular importance in the social-cultural lives of the people in the tropics.The nuts of bitter kola are highly valued for their perceived medicinal attributes, and consumption of large quantities of them does not cause indigestion.The part of Garcinia kola plants such as the seeds, the nuts and the bark have been used extensively in African traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases (Adebayo and Oladele, 2012).Traditional African medicinal uses include, treatment of cough, purgative, anti-parasitic, antimicrobial (Adefule-Ositelu et al., 2004).The seed is used in the treatment of diarrhea bronchitis and throat infections and liver disorders (Yakubu et al., 2014).Its economic contribution to both domestic and national markets, according to them, raises the standard of living of those involved in its trading activities both in the rural and urban centers.Trading in bitter kola is more profitable than trading in other non-timber forest products in most developing countries.This is because of the high amenability of biller kola (both in fresh and dried forms) to storage (Famuyide et al., 2012).In Nigeria, where employment opportunities for traditional industries are declining, workers looking for alternative sources of income often turn to the collection of non-timber forest products, such as bitter kola, from nearby forests (Adefule-Ositelu et al., 2004).According to Chinyere et al., (2013), the plants bark, seeds and stem are traditionally used in the treatment of throat infections, acute fever and inflammation of the respiratory tract.The leaves are also used to treat against stomach problems and also a remedy for typhoid.Garcinia kola seed and other parts of the plant are sources of medicine and income generation and were examined in Ijebu Ode Local Government area Ogun Stare to find out the abundance and the socio-economic contribution to rural livelihood in the study area.

MATERIALS AND METHOD
This study was carried out in Ijebu ode, Ogun State.Ijebu ode is one of the cities in Ogun State located in the South-Western part of Nigeria, close to the A121 highway.It has an estimated population of about 209,175.It lies between latitude 6.82 o N and longitude 3.92°E and 68merters elevation above the sea level.Ijebu-ode is the trade center of the farming region where yam, cassava, grain, tobacco and cotton are grown.

Data collection and analysis:
The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire.A total of 100 Garcinia kola traders were selected using simple random sampling techniques.The markets that were covered are Oke-aje, New market and Ita-ale, and questionnaires were administered to the randomly selected respondents.The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical tools.Descriptive statistical tools such as frequencies and percentage were used to analyze the socio economic characteristics among the respondent.
Cost and return analysis was used to determine the profitability while Gini coefficient was used to determine the market structure.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Socio-economic characteristics of respondents: Garcinia kola contributes significantly to the socioeconomic livelihood of the people.From the field survey shown in Table 1, it was revealed that about 95% of the respondents were female while 5% were male.This show that more female participates in Garcinia kola trading and marketing activities and it's probably because women are more predominant in capital aspects of forest business include marketing (Ogunwande et al., 2009).Age distribution of respondents showed that 48% of the respondents were between 35-45 years of age.This is an indication that most of the traders of Garcinia kola were still within the active age group and could easily move around to source for the Garcinia kola products.It was observed from the survey that 82% of the respondents were married and this conforms to the findings of Taphone, ( 2009) who reported that married people have more responsibilities in taking care of their family members.Table 1 also revealed that 42% of the respondents had no formal education, 41% had at least primary education.This implies that most of the respondents were not educated.Majority (60%) of the respondents had household size between 2-4 people.The finding agrees with Asa and Eyo (2015) who reported that the average household size of rural dwellers in Ijebu-ode is low.

Valuation and Utilization of Garcinia kola Parts
Table 2 shows the Valuation and utilization of Garcinia kola Parts.From the table, the use of Garcinia kola is advantageous to all respondents in the study ares.The bark of Garcinia kola is used by majority (84%) in treatment of malaria ant to treat diabetes (16%).The seed is reported in curing of cough (60%), sore throat (27%), repel of snake around the house (8%) and in neutralizing poisonous substance in food.The root is used for the treatment of stomach disorder and relieve of tiredness.This is in line with (Chinyere et al., 2013) who reported that the seeds, nuts and root of Garcinia kola plants have been used extensively in African traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases.Marketing activities of Respondents: Table 3 shows the Marketing Activities of Respondents in the study area.All respondents preserve Garcinia kola by air drying and the use of nylon as the preferred packaging materials.Major customers were from general public (98%) while (2%) were herbalist.Majority of the respondents (93%) were tax payer and price fluctuations (78%) is the major challenge faced by the respondents.(2005), the higher the rate of return on investment, the better for the success of the business.Adebayo and Oladele, (2012) also state that trading in bitter kola is more profitable than trading in others non-timber forest products in most developing countries.

Distribution of Bitter kola Traders in the Study Areas:
Table 5 shows the distribution of bitter kola traders in the study areas.The Gini co-efficient of 47.08% returned implies that the market is profitable.The indication is therefore that the market concentration is high, suggesting that the market with the highest sales income controlled a large enough volume to be considered dominant, hence, market price would be determined by the market with highest sales.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the study has shown that the contributions of Garcinia kola should not be under estimated when we consider the roles they play in the economy of any nation.Women were the dominant participants in the trade because they play crucial role in the downstream Forestry enterprise development.Bitter kola marketing is profitable as evidenced from the result of budgetary analysis.Most severe constraints to bitter kola marketing in the study area were poor marketing channels, price fluctuation, and season availability of bitter kola nuts.
Gross revenue (GR) = Total output * unit price Gross profit (GP) = GR-VC Net profit (NP) =GP-FC Rate of return (ROR) =  * 100  Rate of return on investment (RORI) =  * 100  Profit = TR -TC  =   Where PI = Profitability index Gini coefficient= 1-EXY Where = Percentages of sellers per period of study and Y = Cumulative percentage of total sales (revenue)

Table 2 .
Valuation and Utilization of Garcinia kola Parts

Table 3 .
Marketing Activities of Respondents

Table 4 .
Average Monthly Profitability at the Market Visited Parameters Ita-Ale Market Oke-Aje Market New Market

Table 5 .
Computation of Gini Co-Efficient in the Study Areas