ABSTRACT
The marketing of groundnut is carried out by people of different background, trait, and communication skill and income level. The prices of groundnut, also dependent on the various markets, could vary due to several factors such as seasonality, market demand, quality, storage that could act as determinant of how price is fixed by the marketers. In regard to this, this study aimed at examining the economics of groundnut marketing in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. It examined the socio-economic characteristics of groundnut marketers, the cost and return of marketing groundnut, the variation in price between the markets and the constraints affecting the marketing of groundnut in Oredo Local Government. Both primary and secondary data were used, the data were obtained through structured questionnaires. The secondary data were obtained from journal articles, textbooks and interviews. A-three (3) stage sampling procedure was used in selecting groundnut marketers for the study. In the third stage, a simple random sampling technique was used to select the groundnut marketers from the target population of the sampled markets based on their percentage contribution to total groundnut marketers. With a sample size of 60 groundnut marketers, 24, 22 and 14 groundnut marketers respectively were selected from Oba, New Benin and Ekiosa market. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used including mean, frequency counts and standard deviation was used to describe the socio economic characteristics, inferential statistics such as multiple regression was used to examine the price difference among the markets while gross margin analysis was used for the cost and return structure. The results of the descriptive statistics show that 57.89% of groundnut marketers were female, 73.68% were married, and about half (50.88%) of them fell within the age bracket of 41-60, while majority of the marketers had small household size (78.95%). The result also showed that the marketers are both wholesalers and retailers (56.18%). The result shows that the cost per unit of groundnut is ₦1356.12 but a profit of ₦715.85 is gotten.The regression analysis revealed the differences in price between the markets in the study area, having a price difference of ₦21.40 between Oba market and New Benin market and a difference of ₦59.47 in Oba and Ekiosa market. The study further identified the constraints facing marketers of groundnut in the study area, which include, high cost of purchase, high cost of transportation, poor credit facilities, and insufficient capital. It is concluded that groundnut marketing is a profitable business in Oredo Local Government Area, but its major constraints are high cost of purchase, high cost of transportation and insufficient capital.
