ABSTRACT
The study evaluated the economics of hake marketing in Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. It specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of the hake marketers, estimated the cost and revenue structure of the hake marketing, estimated the price variation in hake marketing among the markets, estimate the price difference among hake marketing in the study area, and identified the constraints in the marketing of hake in the study area. A two- stage sampling procedure was used to select the respondents in the study area. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, percentage, standard deviation and coefficient of variation was used to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, the marketing cost and revenue structure, and the price variation of hake marketing in the study area. Inferential statistics like the regression analysis was used to evaluate the selling price across the selected markets and forms of hake in the study area. The results showed that majority of the marketers were females (81%) within the age group 20-40 years (78%), and they were mainly married (56%) with the predominant household size of 1-5 (87%). It also revealed that 87% of the marketers were retailers and 13% were wholesalers, with 27% of the buyers being retailer/consumer and 73% being final consumers. The analysis of the marketing cost and revenue structure showed the average unit cost price for hake to be ₦3757.29 with a high standard deviation of ₦2019.69. It accounted for 80% of the total marketing cost. The average unit cost for transport cost accounted for 3% of the total marketing xii cost, the cost for rent accounted for 10%, packaging accounted for 2%, firewood accounted for 4% and market charges accounted for 1%. The average total variable costs came up to be ₦4692.82 with a high unpredictability of ₦1940.33, and the average unit selling price for hake was ₦4427.37 with a high deviation at ₦2219.80. The average unit gross margin for the marketers in the study area was ₦2756.20 with a relatively high deviation of ₦5790.32, indicating significant variability. The results from the analysis of the price variation revealed that the cost and selling price, per kg of Hake, had a high coefficient of variation (C.V) at 54% and 50% respectively, indicating significant variability across markets. For the estimation of selling prices across the markets, the result gave the multiple coefficient of determination (R2 ) to be 0.0379, which indicated that about 3.79% of the variation in selling price can be explained by the markets, and an adjusted R2 of -0.0079. Hake marketing in the study area is limited by poor transportation, high perishability of Hake, high cost of transportation, insufficient capital and in adequate facilities. The recommendations included revisiting pricing and cost management strategies, allocation of funds through agro-allied banks or other institutions to marketers and improved the state of the roads to allow for the efficient marketing hake.
