Analysis of Socioeconomic Determinants of Profitability of Cattle Marketing in North-east Nigeria, Before and During Cash Crunch Period

The recent government cashless policy, which attempted to reduce the circulation of cash in the Nigerian economy in order to address certain macroeconomic problems, brought some difficulties across the informal sector, especially among the cattle marketers who largely relied on cash transactions and lacked adequate knowledge of the cashless economy.This prompted this study on the analysis of socioeconomic determinants of profitability of Cattle marketing in North-east Nigeria before and during the Cash Crunch period.Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were adopted to select 495 respondents to form the sample size.Primary data was employed, which was sourced from a cross-sectional survey of cattle marketers with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire along with interviews.The study employed an inferential method of analysis.The results of the multiple regression analysis using Robust Ordinary Least Square (OLS) showed that access to credit facilities, education and market information all had a positive coefficient of 0.540, 0.027 and 0.431, and Significant at p<0.01, respectively.The R 2 values for these determinants were 61% and 59% before and during the cash crunch period, indicating that between 61% and 59% of the variations in profitability were explained by the aforementioned factors.The Z-test revealed no significant difference in these factors between the two periods, emphasizing their consistent positive impact.The study recommends that financial institutions should design specialized credit facilities that cater to the unique requirements of cattle marketing, and marketers should indulge themselves in groups or associations to facilitate their digital financial learning process to alleviate the challenges associated with remote and cashless transactions in cattle marketing.