Smoked and fresh fish marketing in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria: a comparative analysis

Fish marketing is gaining prominence especially in the rural communities as an all year-round poverty alleviation micro-enterprise requiring low capital base. This study examined the marketing performance of smoked and fresh fish in the study area. Primary data were obtained from 80 respondents selected through a two-stage sampling technique. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The objectives of the study were to: describe and compare the market structure and performance, determine the profitability, identify marketing intermediaries, and constraints to smoked and fresh fish marketing in the study area. The results showed that that both sexes involved in fish marketing with the female (58.7%) dominating. Majority (67.5%) of the marketers were within the age group of 15–44 years. The mean age was 33 years. Also, 73.7% of the respondents were married and most (58.7%) of the respondents had household size of between 1 and 5 persons and the mean household size was 6 persons. About 65% of the respondents had one form of education or the other. The mean fish marketing experience was estimated at 15 years. The benefit cost ratio for fresh fish marketing was ₦0.26. This implies that ₦0.26 was made for every ₦1 invested in the fresh fish business and the marketing efficiency for fresh fish marketing was calculated at 2.93 (293%), while the net benefit cost ratio of smoked fish was calculated at ₦1.57. This implies that ₦0.57 was made on every ₦1 invested into the smoked fish enterprise. The results further indicated significant revenue differential between smoked fish (₦380,500.00) and fresh fish (₦179,640.00) of ₦200,860.00. This accounted for about 111.82% indicating that smoked fish marketing yields higher revenue than fresh fish, in the study area. The Gini-coefficient (GC) for both fresh and smoked fish marketers were calculated at 0.5857 and 0.4801 respectively. Decentralized routes of marketing channels were observed with retailers having the highest percentage of 32.5 for the traded smoked fish, while consumers had the highest (30.0%) of the traded fresh fish. Some of the identified constraints include; seasonality, inadequate credit, poor storage facilities and poor road networks. It was recommended that the marketers organize themselves into cooperative organizations and set up strong market networks and linkages in order to benefit from available markets outside their immediate vicinities.