Comparative Analysis of Fresh and Smoked Catfish Marketing in Ekiti and Ondo States of Nigeria

Abstract

The study aimed at comparing fresh and smoked fish marketing in Ondo and Ekiti states, Nigeria, using a total of 120 respondents randomly selected from the two states. The study revealed that most catfish sellers were female, married and young, literates with more than ten years of marketing experiences. About 49.17, 33.33 & 17.50 percent of them were involved in marketing both fresh and smoked catfish, fresh catfish and smoked catfish respectively through direct sales to consumers and retailers. The marketing of both fresh and smoked fish is profitable, however, smoked catfish marketing is found to be more profitable than fresh catfish marketing. Though the variable cost of processing and marketing smoked catfish (N537.60) is higher than that of fresh catfish (N262.50), the return on investment of smoked catfish (0.60) is higher than that of fresh catfish (0.48). This however shows that, the marketing of smoked catfish is efficient and worthwhile in the long run when compared to fresh catfish. The study recommends; introducing more smoking kilns and guarantee minimum price policy for catfish production; effective utilization of catfish associations for credit accessibility and scale up production and capacity building of farmers in smoking kiln utilization