Socioeconomic Determinants Influencing Marketers’ Participation in Marketing Cassava Products in Enugu Metropolis, Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The socioeconomic determinants influencing marketers’ participation in marketing cassava products in Enugu metropolis were studied. Combinations of multistage and purposive sampling techniques were employed in the collection of data from 270 cassava product marketers using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to realize the objectives of the study. The findings show that the mean age of the marketers was 41 years, with the majority of them (83.33%) being females. About 66.67 % of the marketers were married, with a mean household size of 7 persons and an average marketing experience of 10 years. The result equally revealed that the average initial amount invested in the business was N 280,211, while the average quantity of product marketed per day was 134 kg, with an average of 2 persons employed as labour. About 91.11 % of the marketers can read and write.  The X2 value of 2931.250 was statistically significant at p < 0.05. It was revealed that age, marketing experience, years spent in school, quantity of product marketed, number of labourers employed and the initial amount invested in the business have a positive influence on cassava product marketing. The results further revealed that the inter-relationship between years spent in school and marketing Experience (.823**), initial amount invested and years spent in school (.638*), quantity marketed and marketing experience (.577*), labour employed and quantity of cassava product marketed (.517*) has a strong effect on cassava product marketing decisions. It was recommended that accessible loans and friendly economic policies be instituted to encourage marketers.