FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSPORTATION OF AGRICULTURAL FOODSTUFFS TO BENIN CITY

ABSTRACT

Transportation is the only means of carrying people and goods from one place to another place. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the transportation of agricultural foodstuffs to Benin City. Stratified sampling technique was used for the study, Benin City was stratified into three zones: the core, the intermediate and the sub-urban. The sample size used for the survey is 384 and the samples for the survey were distributed based on the perceived size of the selected markets in each zone. The major instrument used for the survey is questionnaire which was structured in Likert-type scale. Descriptive and inferential data analyses were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The study revealed that rural- urban transportation system is very poor in Benin City; the bad nature of roads also impacts on transportation of agricultural foodstuffs negatively leading to wastage and spoilage of agricultural foodstuffs; roads lack important and necessary facilities to improve their condition; distance to move the agricultural foodstuffs and weight of the foodstuffs have impact on transportation of the foodstuffs; bad conditions of the vehicles used in transporting agricultural foodstuffs impact on transportation of agricultural foodstuffs negatively; government policies regarding transportation result into extortion of the transporters of agricultural foodstuffs by the security agents on the road; the independent variables are statistically significant on the dependent variable in the regression analysis; cost of transporting agricultural foodstuffs explains nearly 15.2 percent in the cost of agricultural foodstuffs in the markets.

The study recommended improvement in rural-urban transportation system; provision of rural- urban public transport at a subsidized rate; reduction in transportation cost; improvement in storage facilities for agricultural foodstuffs; reduction in extortion and fuel price to address the challenges of transportation of agricultural foodstuffs to Benin City.