Market Structure and Market Conduct of Garden Egg Fruits Marketing in Onitsha Agricultural Zone, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined income and revenue analysis of garden egg fruits marketing in Onitsha agricultural zone, Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socioeconomic characteristics, determine the market structure, market conduct and constraints to garden egg fruits marketing in the study area. Multistage and sample random sampling methods were used to select 160 intermediaries 80 wholesalers and 80 retailers for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gini coefficient and relative index techniques. Findings from socioeconomic characteristics revealed that majority of the marketers had one level of education or other thus making the study area a very vibrant economic hub center for business activity The result of market conduct revealed that both the wholesalers and retailers used big balls of garden egg fruits (size) as a criteria for their selling strategies. . Findings from gini coefficient revealed a gini coefficients of 0.7155 and 0.7488 for wholesalers and retailers respectively. This implies a high level of income inequalities (sale margin) in the distribution of income among the marketers and high concentration of sales in the hands of few marketers hence existence of imperfect competition in the market. The result revealed that some marketers can influence price of the commodity. Under aged hawking should be discouraged and irrigation system should be provided for all year-round availability and there is a need for government to address bad conditions of our road to minimize the cost of transportation were recommended. Keywords: Marketing, structure, Fruits, conduct