Cowpea Marketing and Consumption Preference in Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State, Nigeria

The article sought to examine cowpea marketing and consumption preference in Potiskum Local Government Area (LGA) in Yobe State, Nigeria. Yobe State is one of the major producers of Cowpea in Nigeria and there is a high level of marketing activity on Cowpea in the State. The objectives of this article are Identify the socio-economic characteristic of the respondent; determine the channels associated with cowpea marketing in the study area; examine the factors that determine the price of cowpea in Potiskum L.G.A; and determine the choice of the respondent in the use of cowpea types. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select 150 respondents. Descriptive statistics, OLS regression analysis and semantic differential scale were used as the analytical tools. Major results revealed that the market was mostly dominated by men (78. 66%), who are majorly singles (77.33%) in a household of 1 -10 persons (76. 67%) and (70%) had marketing experience of 1-10 years. The marketers are averagely educated and can read and write in Quranic and western Education. The marketing channel revealed that sales of cowpea start from the farm gate to the final consumer. The factors that affect cowpea retail price had an adjusted R2 of 72.8% with household size, source of supply and sources of loan having a positive effect on the price of a 100kg bag of cowpea. While the factors that affect wholesale price had an adjusted R2 of 66.4% with age, sources of supply, loading and offloading, sources of loan and storage having positive effects on the price of a 100 kg bag of cowpea. The Semantic Differential Scale revealed that brown cowpea was much preferred in the study area despite its high price. The article concluded that there was a free flow of information, adequate market intelligence among the market stakeholders and the business is profitable. It was recommended that an affordable storage facility should be made available to marketers, and market policy be made in the State to enhance the business profile through the improvement of transportation and market price information.