DETERMINANTS OF PROFITABILITY IN SOYBEAN MARKETING IN BARUTEEN LGA, KWARA STATE

Abstract

Soybean is an important crop mostly produced in the middle belt zone in Nigeria. Baruteen LGA is one of the largest producers of soybeans in Kwara State. Moreso, soybeans marketing in Baruteen LGA faces numerous challenges that could significantly impact on its profitability; hence it became imperative to carry out the study. The study analyses the determinants of profitability in soybean marketing, it specifically describes the socioeconomic characteristics of soybean marketers and identifies the key factors influencing profitability. Data were collected from 110 soybean marketers through structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that majority of the marketers (82.7%) were male with mean age of 44years and an average household size of 9 persons. Equally 56.4% had secondary education, with 6- 10 years of marketing experience (51.8%). While the result of the multiple regression analysis showed that age and market experience of the respondents (marketers) are positively significant, while labour and transport are negative but significant. Also, R2 was 0.764, meaning 76.4% of the variables is well represented. Thus, the study concluded that soybean marketing is done predominantly by men of moderate age with high level ofmarketing experience. Age, marketing experience, transportation and labour had significant effect on the level of profit.