33 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 Research on World Agricultural Economy https://ojs.nassg.org/index.php/rwae Copyright © 2022 by the author(s). Published by NanYang Academy of Sciences Pte. Ltd. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). *Corresponding Author: Zechariahs Benapugha Owutuamor, Department of Applied Economics and Marketing, University of Reading, Reading, UK Email: ilsignorzax@gmail.com DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.496 Received: 28 February 2022; Received in revised form: 27 March 2022; Accepted: 29 March 2022; Published: 31 March 2022 Citation: Ukwuaba, I.C., Owutuamor, Z.B., Chiemela, S.N., et al., 2022. Unravelling the Drivers of Plantain Marketing in Enugu State, Nigeria. Research on World Agricultural Economy. 3(1), 496. http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/ rwae.v3i1.496 RESEARCH ARTICLE Unravelling the Drivers of Plantain Marketing in Enugu State, Nigeria Ikenna Charles Ukwuaba1 Zechariahs Benapugha Owutuamor2* Stella Nwawulu Chiemela1 Chikaosolu Maryqueen Ileka1 Ifeyinwa Cynthia Ukwuaba1 1. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria 2. Department of Applied Economics and Marketing, University of Reading, Reading, UK Abstract: Plantain marketing offers great profit-making, yet it is unclear if this has translated to more profits, making it imperative to examine the drivers of plantain marketing. Primary data collected with structured questionnaire in purposive 2-staged random sampling were analyzed using net marketing income, marketing margin, marketing efficiency and multiple linear regression models. Plantain marketing was mainly done by married educated women, averaged 40 years of age, belonging to households averaging 6 persons. Net monthly profit of $63.51 (₦26,050.38), average marketing margin of 30.84% and marketing efficiency of 35.06% were returned. Suggesting plantain marketing is profitable and viable but largely inefficient. Cost of plantain and marketing experience were positively significant (p≤0.05). Plantain marketing faced constraints like seasonality of plantain, inadequate finance, price fluctuations, high transportation costs, bulkiness, spoilage/breakage and high plantain costs. Plantain marketers should form/join cooperatives to obtain low-interest loans, mitigate marketing costs and enjoy economies of scale. Keywords: Cost and returns; Marketing efficiency; Marketing margin; Multiple regression; Plantain 1. Introduction In recent times, there have been agricultural reform campaigns propelled by global food and financial crisis. Just like every other developing country, Nigeria too, is engrossed in this global crusade to improve agricultural production and efficiency in marketing. Agriculture in- volves the production of commodities (goods and servic- es) and until these commodities reach the final consumer, production is yet to be complete, thus the essence of mar- keting being fundamental in agriculture [1]. Efficient mar- keting systems are vitally important for any economy un- der all conditions and at every stage in its development [2]. As marketing channels used by farmers to sell the outputs of their production play important roles in their productivity [3]. This perhaps is due to the specific nature (perishability and level of processing) of agricultural production and its products, in particular, complex transportation and storage problems require a greater number of intermediaries in http://dx.doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.496 34 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 their movement from producers to consumers [4]. So, the ultimate aim of the producer, which is to get rewards, ir- respective of the channels used to market the products that are targeted at turning potential customers into profitable customers is achieved, this is one of the key roles of mar- keting channels [5]. Lack of knowledge on the marketing of some crops such as plantain and their products partly leads to the inherent poor agricultural commodity market- ing in Nigeria. Hence, there is a need for efficient market- ing channels and systems. Plantain is well consumed in Enugu State and thus has a large market, especially in the city centres and semi- urban areas such as Nsukka Local Government Area (LGA). Nsukka LGA, in itself has large market centres, operating daily or every four days. Agricultural products such as banana, plantain, vegetables, pepper, mangoes, palm oil, honey, yam, livestock and other fruits are com- monly traded in those markets [6,7]. In the area, banana and plantain are mostly cultivated mixed with other plants, as backyard crops in compound farms, where farmers usu- ally have less than 50 stands, with a greater proportion of them growing more banana than plantain [8]. However, banana and plantain marketing are most prominent among women, especially within Nsukka Urban, and the neigh- bouring communities. The sale of banana and plantain provides means of livelihood for many households in the area, hence, its decentralization, as both wholesalers and retailers purchase their commodities directly from the pro- ducers [9]. In urban centres, the wholesalers sell to the re- tailers who in turn resell smaller quantities to the ultimate consumers. Poor post-harvest handling practices, amongst other problems, has been militating against agricultural produc- tion in Nigeria, observing that the problem of productivity is further compounded by poor storage and marketing, thus, aggravating loss of quality and quantity, hence, af- fecting the final price of agricultural commodities [10]. Plantain is seasonal and its shelf life is relatively short; hence, its availability is for limited periods of time, there- by incurring very high post-harvest losses [8,11-14] and stud- ies on plantain marketing have shown that plantain fruits are subjected to adverse conditions during handling and transportation [15,16]. A lot of marketing problems determining whether to expand production or not affect the plantain business [17]. The marketing of plantain is very difficult because of the dispersal of the production zones, the lack or poor conditions of the lines of communication with urban con- sumption centres and the irregular supply in the market by wholesalers and middlemen who set the prices. It is insufficient for policymakers to focus on solving produc- tion-related problems alone, because even if production eventually becomes adequate, marketable and marketed surplus may not be enough and reliable [18]. That is to say, to increase food production, it becomes imperative to evolve a more efficient marketing system, in which mar- keting information makes it easy to transmit prices from one market to another, as such, synchronizing prices. Venturing into plantain enterprise holds promising po- tentials, however, there is a little study to back up market- ing of plantain within Nsukka LGA, as the relatively little attention given to plantain in this study area focused on its production technology (characterization, correlation, path analysis and selection indices of Musa genotypes under different conditions) [11-14]. Increasing output (production) without correspondingly increasing marketing may bring about resource wastage and as such, people may continue to wallow in poverty and food insecurity [19]. A related study centering on banana and plantain mar- keting activities by women in the Nsukka urban area, specifically dwelt on the decision-making role, the pattern of marketing among the women and their constraints in marketing the products [13]. Also, the research carried out on plantain and banana marketing in Enugu State centered on examining the structure of plantain and banana market- ing, identifying banana and plantain marketing channels, estimating banana and plantain marketing margins at the retail and wholesale levels, estimating the rate of price transmission and the extent of market integration among banana and plantain markets [9]. However, despite the con- tributions of plantain marketing to the livelihood survival of most marketers, there is little study conducted to iden- tify the drivers of the enterprise. This gap in literature ne- cessitated a comprehensive study on the determinants of plantain marketing, so as to promote speedy sales, reduce losses and enhance profits and improve the efficiency of its marketing system. The broad objective of the study is to unravel the driv- ers of plantain marketing in Nsukka Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State, Nigeria. Specifically, the work described the socioeconomic characteristics of plan- tain marketers; determined the cost and returns on plan- tain marketing; determined the drivers of net marketing returns of plantain; estimated the marketing margin and efficiency of plantain marketers and identified the con- straints to plantain marketing in the study area. 2. Methodology 2.1 The Study Area The study was carried out in Nsukka LGA of Enugu State, Nigeria. An area that lies between latitudes 6°51ʹN 35 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 and 6.85°N of the Equator and longitudes 7°23ʹE and 7.39°E of the Greenwich Meridian [20]. It has a land area of about 1,810 square kilometres and a population of about 309,633 and comprised of 16 communities [21]. Nsukka is situated in the derived savannah belt and has two main seasons; the rainy and dry seasons, with a total annual rainfall that ranges from 1500 mm to 1600 mm, while the average temperature is 27 °C [22]. The inhabit- ants are mainly subsistence farmers and traders. The crops grown and marketed in the area include, but not limited to plantain, cassava, yam, maize, vegetables and different varieties of fruits. There are many markets in the study area such as Ogige, Orie Orba, Nkwo Okutu, Orie Okpuje, Afor Opi, Eha-Alumona, Eke Ede-Oballa and Ikpa com- modity markets. 2.2 Data Collection Primary data were collected with the aid of a well- structured questionnaire. A modified purposive multi- stage (two-staged) simple random sampling technique was used; in the first stage, four markets with a large concen- tration of plantain marketers were purposely selected. The markets selected were Ogige, Afor Opi, Orie Okpuje and Eha-Alumona markets. In the second stage, a list of plan- tain marketers was drawn from each of the selected mar- kets and a simple random sampling technique was used to select 30 plantain marketers from each market, making a total of 120 respondents as sample size. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, net marketing income, net marketing margin, marketing efficiency index and multiple linear regression model. The scope of this study is limited to the activities of plantain marketers who do business daily in the four markets sampled. Data collected were on socioeconomic characteristics, marketing channels, prices, quantities and other associated costs for marketing plantain. However, certain limitations were encountered, especially in the as- pect of data collection. Many respondents were afraid of responding, thinking that their responses would be used to make tax assessments. But, repeated assurances, backed with identity cards made them believe that the question- naires had nothing to do with taxing agencies, thus elic- iting their responses. Another challenge faced was that of time. Most of the respondents complained that their time is being wasted in answering questions, so the field officers compensated for that by buying some of their merchandise to encourage them. To check for consistency of responses, the researchers employed the internal con- sistency method, by repeating certain questions in another way in other sections of the questionnaire. 2.3 Data Analyses 2.3.1 Net Marketing Income The difference between the total sales of plantain and the total marketing costs per month was used to represent net income. Total marketing cost embodies summing up the costs of the produce, along with that of transportation, storage, handling, and other associated costs involved in moving the commodity from the point of purchase to the customer, together with the depreciation of marketing equipment used in the process (see Equation 1). (1) where π is net marketing income, TR is total revenue, given by price per quantity and TC is total cost. The total cost component, TC is derived from the for- mula in Equation (2). (2) where TVC is total variable cost and TFC is total fixed cost. The straight-line method given by the formula in Equa- tion (3) was used to calculate the depreciation of the mar- keting equipment. (3) where D is the depreciation, P is purchasing price of the equipment, S is salvage value of the equipment and n is the useful life of equipment. 2.3.2 Multiple Regression Model The model was explicitly specified as: (4) where: Y = Net Returns from plantain marketing (N) α = Intercept on the Y-axis β = Coefficients X1 = Age of respondents (years) X2 = Marketing experience (number of years in plan- tain marketing) X3 = Household size (number) X4 = Marital status (married =1, otherwise 0) X5 = Number of years spent in school (years) X6 = Cost of plantain (₦) X7 = Marketing cost (₦) X8 = Access to credit (access =1, otherwise 0) ε = Stochastic error term The model is specified in its four functional forms thus: Linear function: (5) Semi-log function: 36 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 (6) Double-log function: (7) Exponential function: (8) The econometric criteria such as coefficient of multiple determination, number of significant variables, the size of the F-ratio and the standard error were used to select the lead equation from the four functional forms of the multi- ple regression model. 2.3.3 Marketing Margin Plantain marketing margin (MM) was derived by taking the difference between the average selling and purchase prices of the marketers, that was gotten from the average prices reported by each respondent. Like Aina et al., (2012) did, the marketing margin was expressed as a percentage in Equation (9). (9) 2.3.4 Marketing Efficiency Index The Marketing Efficiency (ME) as applied by Nse- Nelson, Oke and Adindu (2016) was computed using: (10) Marketing output was measured using net marketing returns, while marketing input was measured as total mar- keting cost. Marketing efficiency, then follows as: (11) If ME equals one; it is efficient, less than one is inef- ficient, however, greater than one is said to be highly ef- ficient. 2.3.5 Likert Scale Rating Technique A 4-points Likert scaling, calibrated as Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD), with values that correspond to 4, 3, 2 and 1 re- spectively was used. The respondents’ mean score (MS) based on the 4-points scale, was computed with cut-off placed at 2.50. This implies that any mean score below 2.50 (MS<2.50) was insignificant, while those above 2.50 (MS>2.50) were significant and regarded as major con- straints. 3. Results and Discussions 3.1 Socio-economic Characteristics of the Respondents The results as can be seen in Table 1, showed that fe- males dominated (95%) the plantain business in the study area. This is in conformity with the findings of other related studies [23-25]. Plantain production is dominated by men [26], but then, women play a key role in processing and mar- keting or perhaps, because women generally prefer self- employment to either working for other people, private or- ganizations or even the government [27]. Similar to another study [28], this study revealed that majority (73.3%) of the plantain marketers were married, suggesting that plantain marketing most probably serves as a reliable source of in- come for family upkeep. With an average age of 40 years, the study indicated that most (75%) of the respondents were relatively young marketers, who fall within the active years of service (less than 50 years), are tireless, energetic, willing to take risks, full of vigour and can go through the rigours of marketing, thus conforming to findings in a related study [24]. With an average of 6 persons per household, many of the house- holds (55%) however have sizes of 6 members or lower. Although this is higher than the reported family size of 5 persons/household [29]. This suggest that the families are averagely normal families within the government rec- ognized family size of 6 persons, which includes father, mother and four children [30]. This is an indication that the families are moderate and not over-laden or overburdened with responsibilities since they are within the officially recommended family size [31]. Table 1 further showed that the greater number of mar- keters (88.3%) have had a minimum of primary school education, in consonance with findings from a similar study [32]. Having, at least, basic education could imply better adoption of new ideas and knowledge which will help in taking decisions to improve marketing as well as strategies. The majority of the respondents (66.7%) had gained reasonable experience, of at least 6 years in plantain marketing. This implies that most of the respond- ents have been marketing plantain long enough to offer reasonable verifiable information about the business. The high proportion of respondents who source their capital from personal savings, may imply that the marketers do not have access to credit facilities or security for loans. This confirms the findings of a similar study which re- ported that the greatest proportion of plantain marketers (54.7%) sourced their capital from personal savings, while lower proportions (33.3% and 12%) obtained capital from friends and cooperatives respectively [33]. 3.2 Cost and Returns in Plantain Marketing The results of the monthly cost and return analyses are presented in Table 2. From Table 2, net marketing returns of plantain sold 37 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 per month indicated that plantain enterprise was viable. Average quantities of plantain sold per month by the marketers were 63 bunches. The average selling price per head of plantain was ₦1,592.83 ($3.88) while the aver- age purchasing price was ₦1,101.66 ($2.69). The mean monthly marketing returns made by the marketers was ₦26,050.38 ($63.51). Table 1. Socio-economic characteristic of respondents Variable Frequency Percentage (%) Mean Gender Female 114 95 Male 6 5 Marital Status Married 88 73.3 Single 32 26.7 Age 20-30 42 35 40.36 31-40 22 18.3 41-50 26 21.7 50-70 30 25 Household size 1-3 8 6.7 6.254-6 58 48.3 7-10 54 45 Level of education No formal Education 34 28.3 Primary 66 55 Secondary 14 11.7 Tertiary 6 5 Marketing experience 1-5 40 33.3 10.36-10 22 18.3 10 & above 58 48.4 Source of Capital Relative/Friends 26 21.7 Personal Savings 78 65 Cooperatives 16 13.3 Source: Computed from field data, 2020 Table 2. Monthly costs and returns structure of plantain marketing in Nsukka Market variables Amount (₦) ($) Revenue (A) 100,348.29 (244.64) Variable Costs Average cost price per bunch 1,101.66 (2.69) Cost of plantain 69,404.58 (169.20) Handling cost 1,024.45 (2.50) Transportation cost 1,204.16 (2.87) Storage cost and Rent 2,232.32 (5.44) Marketing fee 381.17 (0.93) Total Variable Cost (B) 74,246.68 (181.01) Fixed Cost: Depreciated values of trading materials (C) 51.23 (0.12) Total Marketing Cost (B + C = D) 74,297.91 (181.13) Net Marketing Returns (A − D) 26,050.38 (63.51) Source: Computed from field data, 2020 Exchange Rate: $1USD = ₦410.19 3.3 Mean Marketing Margin and Efficiency of Plantain Marketers The mean marketing margin of plantain marketers pre- sented in Table 3, expressed as a percentage showed that the marketing margin for the marketers was 30.84%. Table 3. Monthly mean marketing margin and efficiency of plantain marketing Mean Selling Price (₦) Mean Purchase Price (₦) Marketing Margin (%) 1,592.83 1,101.66 30.84 Net Marketing Returns (₦) Total Marketing Cost (₦) Marketing Efficiency (%) 26,050.38 74,297.91 35.06 Source: Field data, 2020. In Table 3, the results displayed shows that plantain marketing is viable and a good source of livelihood sur- vival. Marketing efficiency of 35.06% (0.35) indicates that the marketing of plantain was not efficient as about 65% of inefficiency existed in the system, implying that 38 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 certain challenges exist in the marketing of plantain in Nsukka LGA. This result is consistent with another study that examined the performance of watermelon marketing in Enugu State, Nigeria [34]. 3.4 Drivers of Net Returns in Plantain Marketing Regression results displayed in Table 4 show the driv- ers of the net income of plantain marketers. The linear functional form was selected as the equation of best fit and was thus used for further discussion. The R2 value of 0.45 shows that 45% of the variations in the net marketing returns were explained by the variations in the independ- ent variables. The purchasing cost of plantain and mar- keting experience of the marketers were statistically sig- nificant in influencing plantain marketers’ net marketing returns and therefore, the major drivers of the enterprise in the study area. The coefficient for cost of plantain was positive (0.2518676) and statistically significant at the 5% probability level (p≤0.05). This implied that the higher the price of plantain, the higher the net marketing returns of plantain marketers, while a decrease will lead to a de- crease in the net marketing income. Results in Table 4 indicate that net marketing returns are majorly attributed to the relative scarcity and seasonal- ity of plantain in the study area and as such marketers tend to make more profit, despite the high cost of purchase, due to an increase in demand, but with relatively limited supply. The results are consistent with findings by a simi- lar study on the determinants of net marketing returns of watermelon in Enugu State, Nigeria[35] and other studies in Southwestern Nigeria which showed that cost of plantain was significant in determining the level of profit among plantain marketers [36,37]. The result also showed that the experiences of the plantain marketers over the years play a major role in driving the profit level of the marketers. Thus, a unit increase in marketer’s experience leads to a 0.195021 increase in the profit level of the enterprise. The result is in tandem with the a priori expectation, which posited that an experienced marketer is better positioned to use his or her experiences acquired over the years to navigate any new or old challenges in the plantain market- ing enterprise. An experienced marketer knows the best place and time to buy or sell his or her goods, so as to maximize profit and minimize marketing and associated costs. The result however contradicts another study that Table 4. Drivers of net marketing returns in plantain marketing Variables Linear Semi-Log Double Log Exponential Constant 709.2958 (0.12) 6.852345 (5.16) –5.678284 (–0.99) 0.001886 (–0.06) Age –6.272809 (–0.06) –0.084899 (0.36) –0.2691972 (–0.36) 26300.91 (0.64) Marketing Experience 0.195021* (3.00) 0.0426468 (1.24) 0.1273448 (0.53) 1.6E+109 (1.71) Household Size –93.06977 (–0.22) 10.441525 (0.45) 0.3323607 (0.62) 3.80E–41 (–0.22) Marital Status –1035.675 (–0.60) –0.3703601 (–0.93) –1.136455 (–1.88) –1.35E–18 (–2.14) Education –16.53843 (–0.07) –0.0448345 (–0.84) –0.6288037 (–1.29) 6.57E–08 (–0.07) Cost of plantain 0.2518676* (4.64) 0.000396* (3.16) 1.24637* (3.36) 1.286426* (4.64) Marketing Cost 1.102463 (0.52) 0.0002084 (0.42) 0.4239647 (0.77) 3.011576 (0.52) Access to Credit –3636.09 (–1.01) 0.5337763 (0.66) –0.4016171 (–0.51) 1.528008 (0.77) R2 0.453 0.346 0.337 0.337 Adjusted R2 0.367 0.232 0.2379 0.238 F– Ratio 5.27 3.04 3.41 5.09 Source: Field data, 2020 * significant at p≤0.05 with the figures in parentheses being t-values 39 Research on World Agricultural Economy | Volume 03 | Issue 01 | March 2022 reported an inverse relationship between marketing expe- rience and the net marketing returns of watermelon [38]. 3.5 Constraints to Plantain Marketing Results shown in Table 5 elucidated the constraints militating against the marketing of plantain. Table 5. Constraints to plantain marketing Constraints Mean Value Standard Deviation Seasonality of the Product 3.53 0.839 Bulkiness 3.45 0.615 Inadequate Finance 3.40 0.124 High Cost of Transportation 3.38 0.114 Spoilage and Breakage 2.93 0.078 Price Fluctuation 2.62 0.880 High Cost of Produce 2.52 0.836 Inadequate Market Information 2.23 0.102 High Market Commission 2.13 0.084 Poor Market Access 1.20 0.717 Source: Field data, 2020 Seasonality of the product, bulkiness, inadequate fi- nance, high costs of transportation, spoilage and breakage, price fluctuations and high cost of the plantain itself were the major challenges confronting all the marketers, as seen in Table 5. This corroborates spoilage of fruits and inad- equate capital as major constraints in plantain marketing in Afijio L.G.A of Oyo State, Nigeria [25]. However, poor access to the market, high market commission and inade- quate market information were reported as the least severe constraints faced by the marketers. This may perhaps be attributable to the ease of communication and information sharing made possible by the use of mobile phones [39,40] and availability of extension agents [41] in the area. 4. Conclusions and Recommendations Marketing is an important aspect of the agricultural value chain and it ensures that agricultural products reach the consumers in the place, time and form needed by the end-users. Plantain marketing is a major source of live- lihood in southern Nigeria. Marketing of plantain was profitable and viable though inefficient in the study area. The major drivers of the enterprise in the study area were the cost of plantain and marketing experience; thus, a marginal increase in the cost of plantain will lead to an in- crease in net marketing returns for the plantain marketers and vice versa. This is not unconnected to some marketing challenges faced by the marketers in the study area such as seasonality of plantain, inadequate finance, price fluc- tuations, high transportation costs and the bulky nature of the commodity, while poor access to the market, high market commission and inadequate market information were the least severe constraints. There is a need for the provision of basic marketing fa- cilities such as basic infrastructures and credit to enhance marketing efficiency positively. Plantain marketers should be influenced to join or form cooperative societies to help handle some of their issues. Programmes promoting good marketing strategies, proper record keeping and genera- tion of funds that will improve plantain marketing should be organized for the marketers by relevant government or non-government agencies. Conflict of Interest There is no conflict of interest. References [1] Agbongiarhuoyi, A.E., Uwagboe, E.O., Agbeniyi, S.O., et al., 2020. 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