Economic assessment of the performance of private sector marketing of fertilizer in Delta state – Nigeria

Abstract

This paper critically attempts to assess the performance of the private sector participants in the marketing of fertilizer in Delta State — Nigeria. A total of 100 respondent fertilizer marketers were randomly selected from four Local Government Areas and studied under the deregulated fertilizer marketing arrangements in 1999. Primary data used for the study were collected with structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics of the conventional parameters for assessing market performance and student t-test. The results that the performance of fertilizer marketers was rated ‘fair” based on the opinion of the public and the values of major market performance indices viz: marketing margin (36.04%) and (28.7%) of total revenue, marketing cost 8.75% and 5.46%) of total cost, net return (29.9% and 24.6%) of total revenue, market, efficiency value (1.4 and 1.3), at wholesales and retail level respectively. The performance of the private marketers was mainly constrained by inadequate finance, high procurement cost of fertilizer at source, market access condition and poor market information systems. The paper thus recommended that high performance of private sector marketing of fertilizer would require improved market infrastructures and effective information system as policy instruments.

KEYWORDS: Economic assessment1 performance, private sector, deregulated fertilizer marketing.