Structure, conduct and performance analysis of honey markets in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study specifically investigated, marketing practices, channels of honey distribution and performance. Multi-stage sampling technique was used  to select respondents from the four (4) agricultural zones in Oyo State. These included Ibadan/Ibarapa, Saki, Oyo and Ogbomoso zones using honey  sellers as respondents. Two hundred and forty four (244) respondents were selected. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics to describe socio-economic characteristic, marketing practices and channels of honey distribution. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between marketing performance and socio- economic  characteristics of respondents. The result showed that average age of the respondents was 46.5 years. Majority (84%) were married with average
household size of 6 members. About 72.5 percent were males with average marketing experience of 7.5 years while an average year of schooling was 12.8. Conduct analysis revealed that majority (90.6%) of respondents claimed to brand their honey using customized containers and labels. Marketing efficiency was 173 percent which implies that the respondents covered the cost of marketing and made a margin above 100 %. Adulteration of honey and lack of access to finance were the major constraints faced by honey marketers. Furthermore, years of schooling (p=0.01), marketing experience (p=0.001), source of honey (p=0.005), credit access (p=0.01) and household size (p=0.005) were factors influencing marketing efficiency of the respondents. The study concluded that honey marketing was a profitable enterprise in the study area. The study recommended that timely and affordable loans/credit should be made available to the marketers so as to improve marketing efficiency.

Keywords: Honey, marketing, efficiency, distribution and Oyo state.