Evaluation of poultry egg marketing in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria

The study focused on evaluation of poultry egg marketing in Ikwuano Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of egg marketers in the study area, determine the structure of the egg markets using the market concentration index, determine the costs and return of egg marketing and examine factors that influence the profitability of egg marketing. Two stage sampling technique was adopted for this study. Six communities were purposively selected from the ten communities in the LGA. Ten poultry egg marketers were selected from the six communities using simple random sampling technique. This made the total number of respondents to be sixty. Descriptive statistics, gini coefficient, costs and return analysis as well as multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected. The results showed that majority (55%) of the egg marketers were males who are still young and agile. They were also married with moderate household size. Many were dominantly farmers and acquired different levels of education. The concentration index showed that egg markets were also highly concentrated with core to perfect equality in size distribution. The result showed a net return of ₦215 and marketing efficiency of 1.035. The coefficient for age, education, sex, and price had positive relationships with amount of sales while household size had a negative relationship with it. Variables that positively influence amount of sales from egg marketing should be considered and strengthened in policy implementation. There is need for guaranteed minimum prices for egg, to reduce price fluctuations and increase consumption of eggs.Keywords: poultry egg, market structure, marketing, Abia Stat