Effect of credit services and socioeconomic factors on the income of cocoa marketers in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Cocoa has remained a valuable crop and major foreign exchange earner among other agricultural commodity export of the Nigerian economy. Therefore, the study evaluates the effect of credit services and socioeconomic factors on the income of cocoa marketers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Primary data were used with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 120 cocoa marketers. Descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) were used for the analysis. The costs and returns analysis reveal that the net marketing income for the average cocoa marketer was ₦8,560,344 per annum while the total revenue of an average cocoa marketer was ₦20,716,187 per annum. The marketing efficiency ratio is 70.4 while the return on investment (ROI) is estimated to be 1.7. That is out of every ₦1 invested, the average marketer made a profit of ₦1 and 7 kobo. The results of OLS revealed that transportation, credit size, credit source, and credit duration were the main determinants marketers’ income in the area. Lack of collaterals and poor financial management skills are the main constraints faced by the marketers. Thus, it is recommended that credit should be provided for cocoa marketers with moderate collateral requirement and interest rate in order to give each and every cocoa marketer the chance to expand their scale of operations.