Marketing Outlet Choice and its Determinants among Smallholder Leafy Vegetable Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Region of Nigeria

Authors : Glory Edet, Sunday Akpan

Pages : 115-138

Doi:10.7161/omuanajas.1475740

View : 29 | Download : 24

Publication Date : 2025-02-28

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The study identified preferred marketing outlets and their determinants among leafy fluted pumpkin (leaf gourd) farmers in the southern region of Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty farmers were selected using purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics and a multinomial logit model were used to analyze the information collected. The results of the socioeconomic characteristics showed that the majority of farmers were women, relatively young, educated and of medium household size, but had low social capital. The study identified contract sales, direct sales to the local market and sales through middlemen/agents as the preferred marketing outlets. Also, farmers\\\' age, farming experience, years in social organization, household size, years of formal education, farm income, household expenditure, access to agricultural extension service, agricultural information sources, farm size and the distance from the farm gate to the point of sale were significant determinants of direct sales on the local market relative to the base category. In addition, social organization membership, years of formal education, farm income, non-farm income, household expenditure, farmer gender, sources of agricultural information, farmers’ age, household size, farm size, taxes, and the distance from the farm gate to the point of sale were significant determinants of middleman/agent option. For increase efficiency in the choice of marketing outlets among leaf gourd farmers, efforts should be directed towards improving their literacy level, building social capital, reducing taxes paid in the local market, providing a good road network and strengthening agricultural extension services in the region.
Keywords : Pazarlama mağazası, yivli kabak, yapraklı sebze, kırsal çiftçiler, Seçimler, Nijerya