DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FRESH FISH MARKETERS IN SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was carried out to analyze the demographic characteristics of fresh fish marketers in selected Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120 marketers in the study area. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that the mean age of the marketers 33 years, 95% of them were male while 73.3% of them were married and 45% of them has attain a secondary level of education; with mean year of marketing experience was 17.14  and 84.2% of the respondents belong to cooperative group. The study also found that the marketers were confronted with problems of price instability, inadequate capital, and high cost of transportation, seasonality of fish supply, storage problems, and inconsistence of government policy, inadequate power supply and low patronage. The study concluded that marketers had a high level of resilience, hence, having high capacity to withstand the market stress by ensuring full commitment to the business. The study recommended Government to create a conducive environment that will attract people in to aquaculture farming to bridge the gap created during the offseason thereby stabilizing the prices. Also, Government to make credit facilities available and affordable to the fresh fish marketers in the study area to encourage the marketers in the business. It was also recommended that, more research work should be carried out on fish marketing strategies that will enable the marketer to become efficient in the fish marketing business.