ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF GROUNDNUT MARKETING IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

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INTRODUCTION
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a leguminous oilseed crop cultivated in the semiarid and subtropical regions of the world. Developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America account for over 97% of world groundnut area and 95% of total production (Food and Agricultural Organization Statistics [FAOSTAT], 2014). Groundnut is the 13th most important food crop of the world. It is the world's 4th most important source of edible oil and 3rd most important source of vegetable protein Taru et al. (2010). Globally, 50% of groundnut produce is used for oil extraction, 37% for confectionary use and 12% for seed purposes, the leading producing States in Nigeria include Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, Adamawa, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa, Bauchi, and Gombe States (National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaisons Service [NAERL], 2011) Groundnut is a highly valuable legume crop in Nigeria, it is processed in many ways such as boiling, roasting, homogenizing and toasting (Saleh et al., 2015). Groundnut production, market and trade served as a major source of employment, income and foreign exchange especially before Nigeria became independent, it also provides basis for agro-allied industry development (Taphee and Jongur, 2014). The objectives of the study were to: 1. describe the socio-economic characteristics of the groundnut marketers; 2. determine the marketing structure and performance of marketing; and 3. identify the constraints of groundnut marketing.
Groundnut production in Nigeria has suffered major setback from epidemics, diseases and also lack of sufficient and consistent supply of improved seed varieties and this significantly affected productivity and thus subsequently led to loss in its share in domestic, regional and international markets (Ajeigbe et al., 2015). Therefore there is need to critically look at the conduct and performance of the market, as the commodity is been transferred from the farmers through the marketers to the final consumers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted in Niger State (North Central) Nigeria. The State lies between Latitudes 8 o 20' and 11 0 30' North and Longitudes 3 o 30' and7 0 20' East (National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2009). The 2006 population census shows that the state has a population of 3,950,249 with an annual growth rate of 3.4% (National Planning Commission [NPC], 2006). The projected population at 3.4% annual growth rate gives a population of 5,293,333 by 2016, Niger State is among the largest States in Nigeria covering about 86,000km 2 (about 8.6 million hectares) representing about 9.3% of the total land area of the country (Development Action Plan for Niger State [DAPNS], 2008) and about 95% of the land is arable and serve as source of employment for the predominantly rural population whose primary occupation is farming. The state experience distinct dry and wet season with annual rain fall varying from 1100mm -1600mm with temperature ranging from 29.4 o C -39.2 o C (Niger State Government Diary [NSGD], 2008).

Sampling Techniques and Sample Size
Multistage sampling technique was use for thie study. The first stage involve selection of Agaie and Bida Local Government Area (LGA) from zone A of the State. In the second stage, two (2) markets were randomly selected from Bida (Small Market in Bida South, and Etsu Musa market in Bida North) and central market Agaie was selected from Agaie LGA. In the third stage, a random sampling was used to select respondent based on the proportion of marketers in the selected markets, thus, 40 respondents were selected randomly from Bida LGA and 52 from Agaie LGA which gave a total of 92 respondents.

Method of Data Collection
The data for the study was obtained from primary source through the use of wellstructured questionnaire which was designed and administered through interview schedule to the respondents. The questionnaire was based on the socio economic characteristics of the respondents, market structure and performance, constrains of groundnut marketing and level of profitability of groundnut through marketing and gross margin among others.

Analytical Techniques
The tools used in analyzing the data are descriptive statistics, farm budgeting techniques (gross margin, and gross ratio), Gini coefficient and marketing margin. Descriptive statistics was used to achieve objective i and iii. Gini coefficient and gross margin were used to address objective ii. Gini coefficient was used to determine market structure which is an indication about competitiveness of market. Mathematically, the gini coefficient is expressed as: GC = 1-ΣXY ... (1) where; GC = Gini coefficient X = proportion of sellers Y = cumulative proportion of sales Σ = summation sign The value of GC ranges 0-1 the higher the coefficient the higher the level of concentration consequently, the higher the level of efficiency in market and vice versa. 1). A low Gini-coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini-coefficient indicates more unequal distribution. Zero (0) corresponds to perfect equality, while one (1) corresponds to perfect inequality Gross margin analysis (partial budgeting) was used to address objective iii of the study. The partial budget consists of gross margin (GM) and net income (NI) analysis. GM is a very useful planning tool in a situation where fixed capital forms a negligible portion of the farming enterprises as in the case of subsistence agriculture (Olukosi and Erhabor, 2008). In this study gross marketing margin (GMM) was used. GMM is calculated as follows: GMM = TR -TVC … (2) where; GMM = gross marketing margin TR = total revenue TVC = total variable cost Gross ratio measures the overall financial success of a business. A less than 1 ratio is desirable for any business; the lower the ratio, the higher the profit (Olukosi and Erhabor, 2008). It is stated as: GR = TC/TR ... (4) where; GR = Gross ratio TC = Total cost TR = Total revenue Table 1 revealed that more than half of the marketers were women (54.3%), which implies that women are more into the activities of marketing. The study also revealed a mean age of 34.7 years this indicates that the marketers in the study area were in their active age and therefore, they are at the stage of being more productive and more alert to carry out marketing activities. Also, they adopt new agricultural innovation faster than old people (Taphee et al., 2005). This finding is in line with Abdalla (2000) who stated that at age more than 50 years the propensity to manual effort could be expected to decrease. The findings further revealed that majority of the marketers (73.9%) were married with mean household size of 6 children which implies that they have helping hand that can assist them in their marketing activities. Table 1 also disclosed that about 62% of the respondent have various level of education which implies that their level of understanding of marketing may differ, this statement is in agreement with Nwanosike (2011) who discovered that variations in educational background are usually responsible for the difference in their ability to evaluate and manage risk. As revealed in Table 2, the result of computed Gini-coefficient was 0.66 implying that there was a high level of concentration in the market structure for groundnut marketing in the study area. Also the computed Gini-coefficient in this finding is moving towards 1 which implies unequal wealth distribution. The implication of this kind of market was that the consumer will always suffer exploitation from the middlemen which consequently will depress the consumer motive for maximum utility. This is in line with the findings of Nwanosike (2011) who revealed a Gini coefficient value of 0.53 in his study, indicating imperfect market in competitiveness and high inefficiency in the market structure which might be as a result of dishonest practice in buying and selling activities in the study area. As revealed in Table 3, the cost of purchasing groundnut appeared to constitute the highest share (91.4%) of the total variable cost in the study area. A gross margin of ₦7,929.63 was realized per 100kg bag of groundnut in the study area, indicating that groundnut marketing is profitable in the study area. This is further justified by the value of the gross ratio (0.78) which is less than, this profitable further serve as proxy for performance of the market.  Table 4 shows that majority (85.9%) of the marketers have inadequate access to credit facilities ranking 1st among the constraints, this is in line with the findings of Adinya (2009) who find out that lack of capital as the number constraint facing marketers. Also, majority (81.5%) of the marketers have insufficient storage facilities ranking 2nd among the constraints. This constraint highlights the inability of the marketers to enjoy possible high prices during off peak period. Furthermore, majority (77.2%) of the marketers encountered the problem of price fluctuation ranking 3rd among the constraints. This is probably due to seasonality nature of agricultural commodity or insufficient storage facilities as earlier stated to store enough produce and stabilize supply in the market. Other constraints stated by the marketers include