Road Transport Insecurity as Constraint to Agricultural Food Produce Marketing in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

Efficient and reliable transportation is essential for facilitating the production, distribution and marketing of agricultural and other products. However, insecurity in many parts of Nigeria is resulting in the disruption of road transportation, thus restricting the movement of people and making the distribution and marketing of farm produce difficult. The study examined the effects of transport insecurity on the marketing of agricultural food produce in Ilorin, Nigeria. Agricultural produce traders (n = 125) were sampled from the six major produce markets in Ilorin metropolis using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through a questionnaire, and analysed using frequency counts, percentages and ranking. The results show that most of the agricultural products sold by traders are sourced from locations experiencing security challenges. Armed robbery was the major (64%) road transport security problem faced by traders. Insecurity on the roads had various effects, including the creation of fear for travel among the traders (85.6%), and a reduction in the quantity of produce available (79.2%). However, ranking of the effects showed that high cost of transport, higher selling prices and high cost at source markets were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The major coping strategies adopted by traders included avoiding night travel (31.2%), and changing to safer locations to buy produce (22.4%). It is recommended that the government should improve security on Nigerian roads and develop other modes of transport to reduce overdependence on road transportation.