Analysis of post-harvest losses in orange in Lagos metropolitan markets, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analysed the post-harvest losses (PHLs) in orange in Lagos Metropolitan markets, Nigeria.The specific objectives were to  describe the socio-economic characteristics of the orange marketers, appraise their marketing activities and identify the causes of PHLs.A two-stage sampling technique was used to select 100 orange marketers in the study area. Data were obtained with the aid of structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, Likert scale rating and multiple regression analysis. Results revealed that majority of the orange marketers were female, within the age range of 41-50 years, had primary education and married with a mean household size of 6 people. Most of the marketers played a dual role of wholesaler and retailer, travelled an average distance of 78.3 km to purchase their wares, used open pickup van as mode of transportation, baskets as the major storage system and incurred an average postharvest loss cost of ₦ 4,551.55 monthly. The major causes of PHLs in the study area were distance (61.9%), high transportation cost (46.4%), bad roads (49.5%), poor storage system (47.4%) and perishable nature of orange (63.9%). Education  (p<0.05), marketing experience (p<0.01), monthly income (p<0.05), storage system (p<0.05) and distance (p<0.01) were the major  determinants of PHLs in the study area. It is concluded that, the economic burden of PHLs is enormous on the orange marketers and this needs to be disparaged by the state government and other relevant institutions in the study area.

Keywords: Orange marketing, post-harvest losses, transportation, storage, distance