Profitability of Palm Oil Marketers in Delta State
Emmanuel Matthew
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Delta State University Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria.
Emaziye Peter Otunaruke *
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Delta State University Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study analyzed profitability of oil palm marketers and data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 108 oil palm marketers which was analyzed using descriptive statistics and gross budgetary analysis. It was revealed that oil palm marketing was dominated with active married and well experience marketers with a relatively moderate family size. However, majority of the palm oil marketers were female that were found not highly educated as majority of them only attained secondary education. The major source of fund for the marketers is cooperative societies which account for about 61.1%. Marketers were involved in the distribution of palm oil in whole sale (58.3%) and retail (41.7) basis respectively. The research concluded from benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 1.23 that palm oil marketing was profitable. It is recommended that males should be encouraged to involve in the business and loans with low interest rate should be provided by the government or NGOs to palm oil marketers.
Keywords: Oil palm, marketers, profitability, Nigeria