Marketing of Agricultural Produce in Nigeria

Nigeria has a total population of 120 Million (NPC 2006) and about 70% are engaged in Agriculture. Many writers are of the opinion that despite the dominance of Agricultural products in Nigeria food security for the teeming population cannot be guaranteed if there is no efficient marketing system for agricultural produce. The bulky nature of agricultural produce coupled with the scattered nature of the production units the distance between production and consumption areas makes agricultural marketing more complicated. The research finding show that grain marketing in the study area was profitable during the period under review. A gross margin of N1229820000 was recorded in 2001 N1826190000 in 2002 N1398725000 in 2003 N1975985000 in 2004 N1741470000 in 2005 and N423285000 in 2006. Marketing efficiency was 69.26% in 2001 62.74% in 2002 71% in 2003 69.06% in 2004 69.67% in 2005 and 90%.69% in 2006. Even though grain market was profitable it was not efficient. Grain marketing is also affected by problem such as transportation storage inadequate credit multiple taxes and long channel of distribution.