Marketing of smoked fish in some selected areas of Niger State,

Abstract

The study was carried out in six markets from three Local Government Areas of Niger State selected purposely and a total number of 90 respondents were randomly selected. The study revealed the following, gross margin of N55,800 from Minna, N90,250 from Shiroro and N50,400 from Wushishi respectively. A Gini coefficient of 0.05797 revealed from the results, suggests a high level of inequality in income distribution. The market structure approximates that of oligopoly indicated by the presence of few sellers, producers and sellers fixing their prices and high level of product differentiation. The study revealed a marketing channel of productions moving mainly from producers to wholesalers retailers and finally to consumers. Producers and sometimes wholesalers were found to be the processors of the fresh fish. The study concluded that the marketing of smoked fish was profitable. It was further recommended that producers be given new and improved technology on fish processing to improve the quality, effective and available transport system to facilitate prompt movement of products thus avoiding unnecessary spoilage and deterioration.