Marketing system of crayfish in Rivers state, Nigeria

This study examined the marketing channel, marketing cost, marketing margin, structure and problems associated with crayfish marketing in order to provide recommendations for an efficient crayfish marketing system in Rivers State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used, 6 local government areas were selected purposively and it was stratified based on the existing crayfish trading activities (upland and lowland), from each lgas a major crayfish market was selected. Samples of respondents were selected randomly proportional to its population size. A total of 80 sampled crayfish traders were selected from the crayfish traders associations(sample population) for the interview. The results of this study revealed 3 dominant crayfish marketing channels in Rivers State crayfish marketing system. Overall,the marketing margins of wholesalers were lower than that of retailers. The Gini coefficient of retail and wholesale crayfish markets in this study indicated a high level of concentration in the markets. In conclusion, the crayfish market had factors which favour imperfect competition, especially at both wholesale and retail level.