The Structure of Dried Fish Marketing in Taraba State, Nigeria
DOWNLOADAugust 30, 2021 - Abu, G.A., Emmanuel, G and Obekpa, H.O
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Nigeria is endowed with a large area of inshore waters, and a vast inland system comprising natural and man-made lakes, rivers, creeks, lagoons and wetlands all of which support good varieties of fisheries. Fish is a very important agricultural product in Nigeria, and is largely consumed in the country due to its rich nutritional and medicinal values. It constitutes 40% of protein intake in the country (Federal Department of Fishery FDF, 2000). Fish contains more nutrients and is relatively cheaper compared to beef, pork and other animal protein sources in the country (Amiengheme, 2005). Global fish production has grown steadily in the last five decades, with food fish supply increasing at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent, outpacing world population growth at 1.6 percent. World per capita fish consumption increased from an average of 9.9kg in the 1960s to 13kg in 2012 (Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, 2004).
Nigeria fish production volume and marketing falls below expectation. Fish is consumed as a fresh and a dried product in Nigeria. This is due to the preponderance of fish demand over supply. Although a vast array of literature on large- scale fish production exists in Nigeria (Inoni, 2007: Kudi, 2008: Dagtekin, 2009: Zabbey, 2010), there is paucity of information on the structure of fish marketing in Taraba State. The structure of dried fish markets point to some appropriate characteristics capable of defining sufficient fish market situation that have the ability of optimizing social welfare and maximizing the efficiency of the fish marketing system.
A sampling frame of 475 dried fish marketers was used and 188 fish marketers were randomly sampled for the survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Table 1 shows the computation of gini coeffient for retailers by monthly sales. The gini coefficient calculated was 0.47, which is closer to zero than one, therefore the market power is not concentrated in the hands of only a few fish traders. This implies that the activity of some wholesalers cannot affect the price and demand for fish in the market although there are some forms of inequality in the sale of dried fish.
