ANALYSIS OF BEEF, MUTTON AND CHICKEN DEMAND IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the consumers demand and preference for meat in Bauchi State. A multistage sampling technique was used to select five hundred and eighty-six households in the study area and data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study revealed that, most (96.9%) of the household heads were male and married (89.8%) with about 35.7% of them having secondary education and 30.0% taken farming as their occupation. The study also revealed that, the mean monthly household head income and mean monthly expenditure on beef, mutton and chicken as N2,287.96, N1,946.04 and N1,734.44, respectively. It was further revealed that, households spend more on beef and least on chicken. The results of the regression analysis on the determinants of household demand for beef, mutton and chicken revealed that, household size, market locations, price of meat, household head monthly income and educational levels of the household head had a significant effect on meat demand in the study area. The result showed that, major constraints to meat consumption were financial problem, high cost of meat, health related problems, poor sanitary condition of meat vendors as well as high prices of other food items of necessities. Based on the result of this findings, it was therefore recommended that, federal/State governments should enhance economic boasting programmes to improve the income of consumers; there should be a concerted effort on the part of government and non-governmental bodies on measures of increasing animal feeds and feeding to boast animal production.