Economic analysis of processing and marketing of plantain in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria.

The study analyzed processing of plantain in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo state. A well-structured questionnaire was use to obtain information from the respondents in the study area. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents were randomly selected for the study. Data were analysed using Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution tables, percentages and inferential statistics. The result from the demographic distribution of respondents shows that the age of the plantain marketers ranged between below 30 years and above 60 years, with a mean of 58.3%. There is a gender imbalance in the distribution of plantain marketers in the study area, with females and males scoring 73.3% and 26.7% respectively. 85.8% of the plantain marketers were married. As regards household size, forty-five percent (45.0%) had 4-6 persons per household. The average household size was 4 persons per household. Only 33.3% had no formal n education. However, a substantial percentage of the participants (77.5%) engaged in trading as their main occupation. The range and mean of marketing experience of the plantain marketers was between 5 and 20 years and 29.8% respectively, with majority (58.3%) having more than twenty years of experience. In terms of religion, results show that majority (58.3%) of the respondents in the study area are Christians The result revealed that majority of the of the plantain marketers (74.2%) were into plantain chips with majority 80.8% using frying processing methods. Moreover, the budgetary analysis for the year revealed that the average revenue was 197,025,15 and net income was 114,531 and 75. The regression result shows that plantain marketing is a profitable venture. Out of the seven (7) variables modeled, only educational level and cost of raw plantain were statistically significant in determining the profitability of plantain marketers in the study area. The result also revealed that the major problems encountered by marketers are poor storage facilities and high cost of transportation. It is thus recommended that government should promote investment in agricultural processing industries in the country through appropriate credit facilities, and infrastructural facilities.