The Economic Effect of Insurgency on Smoked Fish Sellers in Maiduguri Metropolis of Borno State Nigeria

Fish scarcity is a major problem that leads to malnutrition, which has a major health hazard in many developing countries. Malnutrition impedes health, work efficiency, productivity and general economic progress. The economy is of high importance to marketing system, therefore before production, market must be available. This research therefore examined the economic effect of insurgency on smoked fish sellers (a case study of Baga fish market) in Maiduguri metropolis of Borno-State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using structural questionnaires. A total of 60 respondents were randomly selected for the study. Descriptive statistics and gross margin was used to analyse data generated. The result revealed that (91.7%) were male, (83.3%) married, active productive ages between 41- 60 years (53.3%) and family size between 1-5 (41.7%) with moderate educational level of (33.3%) while main occupation of the respondents was trading with (90%). The previous and present gross margin values for small, medium and large carton of smoked fish were (N1, 402.00, N1, 962.20, and N4, 455.30) and (N1, 733.80, N13, 893.00 and N66, 488.70) respectively. The problems mostly encountered were poor storage facilities, pests and disease, lower market price by the buyers due to its perishable nature and lack of access to capital with (21.9%, 31.4% 22.5% and 24.3% respectively. The insurgency attack has negative effect on the economic activities of smoke fish sellers. It can be recommended that local dried fish marketers should be organized into cooperative groups by extension agents and government should provide adequate infrastructural facilities such as modern storage facilities, good road network etc