Analysis of Structure and Conducts of Dried Fish in Benue State, Nigeria

This study examined the marketing structure and conduct of dried fish marketers in Benue State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 226 dried fish marketers from Makurdi, Otukpo, Guma, and Agatu LGAs in the State. Data collected were analysed with the aid of descriptive statistics and Gini coefficient. The study revealed that majority of the rural (84.0%) and urban (98.9%) dried fish marketers were females, aged 36-50 years for both rural (43.7%) and urban (49.4%) areas. Majority of the rural (88.2%) and urban (77.5%) dried fish marketers were married with household size of 5-12 persons. Majority (56.3% and 51.7%) of the rural and urban dried fish marketers respectively spent mean of seven years in formal education and had mean of 16 years and 14 years dried fish marketing experience for the rural and urban dried fish marketers respectively. Furthermore, it was revealed that majority (84.9% and 85.4%) of the rural and urban marketers respectively were members of dried fish marketers’ association who had less than one million naira as their marketing return. Gini Coefficient for dried fish in the rural and urban areas were 0.45 and 0.57 respectively indicating that there was no competition in the areas and inequitable distribution of the income of the markers. Funding should be made available for the traders to expand their business; Cooperatives can aid to access credit facilities from banks in form of government intervention funds with low interest rates which will solve the problem of lack of capital.