Socio- Economic Factors Influencing the Probability of Market Participation among the Cattle Farmers in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined Socio- economic factors influencing the probability of market participation among the cattle farmers in Adamawa state, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to sample the respondents. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 400 respondents in the study area. Descriptive statistic was used to analysed the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and logit regression analysis was employed to estimate the determinants market participation among the market participants. The result of the findings shows that cattle market participants were averagely aged 43 years, they are predominantly male (95.04%), (83.48%) were married, while (77.96%), (57.02%) had formal education and are full-time cattle farmers respectively. the result of logit regression analysis indicates that five variables (gender, education, distance to market, prior market information and seasonality) were significantly found to influence the farmers' decision to participate in the market. The marginal effects were used to interpret the results. Recommendations were made such as to encourage more formal education among the farmers, the more the participant is educated, the better the chance of participation in the cattle market and also to encourage female and those that are unmarried to participate in cattle marketing activities. Provision of reliable market information through mass media or extension services is paramount important in improving market participation and to provide adequate pasture land and water supply so as to curb the problems of exposure to avarice of weather, creates more additional sales point at farming communities is paramount important in the intensity of cattle market participation.