ABSTRACT

The study was designed to examine Economics of beef marketing in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State It specifically examined the socioeconomic characteristics of the beef marketers were described, the structure of beef marketing was examine, channels involved in the marketing of beef were identified, the cost and returns, efficiency, margin and distribution channel associated with beef market were determine, the factors influencing the profitability of beef marketing was analyze and the constraints in beef marketing were identify .. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from forty five (45) randomly selected beef markers which include fifteen (15) wholesalers and sixty ( 6) retailers. High Gini coefficient of 0.5251 obtained implies that there is a significant inequality in the distribution of income among beef marketers. The business was profitable as indicated by the Positive net return of N42,330.29, marketing margin was 7 .69, the marketing margin analysis show that high margin existed. 5% and 10% marketing margin are acceptable for storage and perishable goods and higher for non-perishable goods. The marketing efficiently revealed that every ll invested in the business, the marketers received N4.09, thus showing that the business was viable. The exponential functional form gave the best line of fit. R 2 value was 89.2% and statistically significant at 1% level. Age, transport cost, Volwne of Beef handle and Household size were the significant variables that influenced the profitability of the beef marketers. The major constraints militating against beef marketing in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area were high cost of transportation. Based on the findings, Marketing infrastructure especially adequate transportation and others particularly the expansion and maintenance of road should be addressed were recommended