Analysis of land snail marketing in Owerri agricultural zone of Imo state, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted in Owerri Agricultural Zone of Imo state, Nigeria to assess the profitability of snail marketing during wet and dry seasons, examine the socioeconomic characteristics of the traders, identify and described the snail marketing channels and determine the economic efficiency of snail marketing for the seasons. Seven Local Government Areas (LGA) and seven major markets in the zone were randomly selected. Ten snail marketers were randomly selected from a list of snail marketers compiled for each Market. This gave a total of 70 respondents used for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data, while profitability principle, descriptive statistics and flow chart were employed to analyzing the data. Results showed that 59% of the respondents were aged between 40-45 years and 49% of them had no formal education. Thirty six (36) percent of the traders had 1-5 years experience in snail marketing. The total marketing cost for snail was N25,940 and N40,630 for wet and dry seasons, while the gross returns was N28,175 and N43,680 for the same periods respectively. The net returns were N2,235 and N3,050 for the wet and dry season respectively. The economic marketing efficiency for snail was 1.09 and 1.08 for wet and dry seasons respectively. The channel of distribution for snail was from producers/hunters to retailers and then consumers or from hunters to consumers. Snail marketing was found to be marginally efficient and may be attributed to the problems of marketing such as the nature of source of supply, poor storability and excessive price.

Animal Production Research Advances Vol. 2(2) 2006: 94-99