Cost and Returns in the marketing of Local Leafy Vegetables in Ibadan Metropolis

This paper examined the costs and returns in the marketing of ten local/indigenous leafy vegetables in some markets in Ibadan metropolis. The vegetables are Piper guineense, Pterocarpus santalivoides, Tetrapleura tetraptera, Heisia pulchella, Lasianthera africanum, Solanium nigrum, Gynura miniata, Solanium incanum, Ocinum gratissimum and Grassocrepholum biarae while six major market in the metropolis were sampled and surveyed through well structured questionnaire administered on the local leafy vegetable sellers in the markets. The objective of this study is determined the financial returns in the marketing of these selected leafy vegetables, hence to determine the profitability or otherwise as well as the major constraints in their marketing. Data on costs and returns of marketing operations were collected using structured questionnaire. Net profit from the leafy vegetables' marketing were determined using the net margin analysis which is equal to the difference between gross returns and total costs. The marketing margin analysis of the selected leafy vegetables shows a gross margin of 25.0/kg with 38.5 % as percentage gross margin, net margin of 10.00/kg with 29.2 % as percent net margin while the costs and return analysis gave a net return of N49.00/kg for each of the vegetable studied. Economic marketing efficiency was found to be 4.06. The marketing constraints were presented in a table and ranked according to their severity. The marketing of the selected vegetables is oligopolistic in nature – many buyer as few sellers. Nigerian Journal of Horticultural Science Vol. 10 2005: pp. 7-11