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DETERMINANTS OF MARKETING EFFICIENCY OF BEE HONEY ENTERPRISE IN UMUAHIA AGRICULTURAL ZONE, ABIA STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
This study was conducted in Abia State in 2019. It was undertaken to investigate the determinants of marketing
efficiency of bee honey enterprise. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 120 bee honey farmers/
marketers from two Local Government Areas; Umuahia- North and South in Umuahia Agricultural Zone of Abia
State. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected using a
structured questionnaire administered to the respondents, and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential
statistics. The results indicate that majority (60%) of the respondents was males, many (41.77%) were middle
aged and 46.67% attained tertiary education. Results also show that many of the respondents (50%) used personal
savings as source capital and honey for medicinal use each, 66.67% revealed that they do not belong to any
farmers' association. The findings from the study also showed that some of the factors that affect honey
consumption were color (25%), taste (45%) and low quality of honey (45.83%). Furthermore, the study showed
that many of the respondents (37.5%) sold honey to retail shops. The result of the regression analysis showed that
coefficients of household size, Marketing Experience, Depreciation value, Transportation, Education, Purchase
price, Interest rate and labor costs were all significant at varied levels and magnitudes. Decrease in output,
increase in cost of production, seasonality of honey were major constraints identified. It is advocated that there
should be a collective action among beekeepers/marketers to enhance honey marketing competitiveness,
development of a honey market information system that provides up to date information to both beekeepers and
honey traders. Bee honey Keepers and marketers should also avail themselves of opportunities of trainings to
keep abreast of technologies and strategies of modern beekeeping enterprise. There is also need for rehabilitation
of rural road networks to reduce the transactions cost of transportation, as well as provision of soft loans to honey
farmers at little or no interest rates for enhanced marketing efficiency.
