MARKETING ANALYSIS OF LOCALLY PROCESSED RICE AMONG SMALL-SCALE PROCESSORS IN LAFIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed marketing analysis of locally processed rice among small-scale processors in Lafia local government area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A purposive and simple random sampling technique was used to select 48 small scale rice processors. Data were collected using questionnaire. Data was analyzed using frequency, mean, percentage and marketing margin analysis. The result revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 41 years, 62.5% of the respondents were female and 75% of the respondents were married.  Also, 83.3% of the respondents had formal education up to tertiary level.  The mean household size was 11 and the mean years of business experience was 22 years. However, 87.5% of the respondents depend on informal sources of credit for their business. The study shows that, total variable cost was N56,760.00 and revenue was N78,000.00 per 75kg with gross margin of N21,850.00 with marketing margin of 37.8%. The benefit cost ratio indicated 1.4 and return per naira invested was 37 kobo, which implies that rice processing and marketing was profitable in the study area. Price fluctuation, inadequate capital, and low level of improved technology among others were identified as the major constraints to rice processors and marketers in the study area. It was recommended that rice processors should form a cooperative in order to ease their accessibility to formal sources of capital and modern rice processing equipment should be subsidized for the marketers.