ABSTRACT

The study examined the effect of agricultural marketing in the marketing efficiency among rice fainters in Abia State. The objectives of the study were to determine; the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; to analyze the structure, conduct and performance of rice market; and identity major constraints and opportunities in rice marketing. However, 94 respondents were randomly selected as the sample size for the three sanctioned zones of Abia State. A well structured questionnaire was designed and used to collect primary data for the study. Simple percentages and multiple regression were used to analyze the primary data collected From the findings, it had been observed that profit in the enterprise depends on certain factors like age of the respondents, income level, household size, marketing cost, sales volume or volume of sales and experience. It was also seen that entry into the market is fleck. Cost price is the major determinant of fixing prices in the market. The performance showed that increase in volume of sales, profitability of rice marketers increases. High risk and high transport cost were the major constraints faced by the marketers. It is therefore recommended that marketing costs Which has negative relationship with profits, should he reduced to the nearest minimum., This lies on government and its agencies to more towards realizing this goal. It is expected that this will not only increase profits but also reduce the cost of purchase by the consumers. Furthermore, efforts should be made by government in the provision of roads, which has effect on transportation of produce, risk involved in traveling amongst others.