ABSTRACT
Watermelon is a highly valued fruit of the family of Cucurbitaceae and is cultivated and marketed in Edo state for its watery flesh. It is a favourite fruit widely appreciated by many consumers, but few studies have been carried out to understand how its marketing structured and performed, how profitable is the marketing of watermelon in the state. The study examined the marketing of watermelon in Egor and Oredo local Government Area, Edo state, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the marketing channel and estimate marketing margin of watermelon marketing; describe the marketing structure, conduct and performance for watermelon in the study area; estimate the costs and returns in watermelon marketing; identify the challenge faced by the watermelon marketers in the study area.
A multi stage sampling procedure was used to sample respondents 105 respondents comprise of 45 wholesalers and 60 retailers for the study. Data for the study were collected through questionnaire administered through Google forms. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and budgetary analysis such as gross margin, benefit cost ratio, marketing margin.
The results showed that majority of watermelon marketers were males and who are married and with average household size of 5 person. The total cost of marketing per bag of watermelon was ₦3472.78 for wholesalers with a net marketing margin of ₦704.6. the total cost of marketing per bag of water melon incurred by retailers was ₦2097.545 and a net marketing margin was ₦620.6. the unit price per bag of watermelon was ₦10471.0 for wholesalers and ₦9738.6 for retailer. watermelon wholesalers and retailers had a Gini coefficient of 0.46 and 0.62 respectively. It was concluded that the net marketing incomerecorded was driven by the cost of produce, transportation cost, packaging cost, storage cost, market informationas well as the educational status of the marketers. It was recommended that Credit facilities should be made more accessible to watermelon marketers by banks and other financialinstitutions at low interest rates. This will go a long way to reducing the financial constraints faced bymarketers and provide business opportunities to the unemployed.
