Abstract:
Rice has become a staple food, just like yam, garri and beans. As a result, the marketing of rice has become very important due to increasing demand of the product. The study examined the economics of farm-gate rice marketing in Enugu State, Nigeria. Five objectives and one hypothesis guided the study. The study covered all the communities in the local government areas in the three Agricultural Zones that produce rice in the study area. The population of the study consisted of rice farmers/assemblers, rice wholesalers and retailers. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in drawing the sample. Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources through the use of pre-tested structured questionnaire, oral interview, personal observations, journals, texts and other publications. Data collected were analysed using means, frequencies, percentages, marketing margin, gross margin and profit functions. The major findings were: Majority of the farmers (77.1%) completed at least primary education while all the marketing participants, namely wholesalers and retailers passed through formal education, some up to degree level. The average hectarage cultivated was 2.77ha, while average rice yield was 1.4 tons, with Nsukka Agricultural Zone having the highest yield. Uniform measuring unit was found to be lacking among the farmers and the marketing participants. The marketing margin of the middlemen was found to be 14.3 percent while 85.7 percent was the consumers’ spending that accrued to the producer as his own share of the profit. The gross margin analysis showed that the farmers/assemblers had the highest gross margin of N34,992.9. Output, fertilizer and labour were found to influence profit at significant level of 0.05. They explained 88.3 percent of variation in profit. Out of this, output alone explained 85.7 percent; fertilizer explained 1.8 percent while labour explained 0.8 percent. The Farmers were found to be profiteering at the rational areas of the profit functions. Factors such as low-level productivity, poor market infrastructures, financial constraints were found to be militating against rice enterprise. Some recommendations were made to help improve the productivity of rice enterprise. These include the provision of better storage facilities and improved seeds, establishment of uniform measuring units and provision of adequate machineries as well as maintaining the existing ones, provision of chemical inputs such as fertilizers and herbicides at a subsidized rate, provision of loans and credits to farmers with little or no stringent measures to help them expand their scope of operations. Above all, adequate extension services to our rice farmers on up-to-date scientific rice enterprise should be ensured and the rehabilitations of our rural roads for easy evacuation of farm produce.
