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Article Title:
Structural Performance of Broom Production and Marketing in Enugu State, Nigeria
by Uloh Emeka Victor (Ph.D) and Igwe Augustine Abor

Abstract:
The study analyzed the production and marketing of local broom in the study area. Two local government areas highly involved in the production and marketing of brooms in the state were used for the study. Specifically, the study examined the socio-economic characteristics of broom producers and marketers, examined the structure, conduct of broom marketing, the channel of distribution and the constraints facing broom production and marketing in the study area. Structured questionnaire and oral interview were used to obtain information from 250 randomly selected respondents comprising of 50 producers, 60 wholesalers and 140 retailers. From the analysis, it was discovered that the production and marketing of broom is dominated by women, majority of them (36%) falling within the age range of 30 ? 39 years. The Gini-coefficient of 0.52, 0.71 and 0.62 were obtained for producers, wholesalers and retailer respectively. This implies that broom marketing is imperfectly competitive and there is a high inequality in sale distribution and income amongst the marketers. The study showed that there were five alternative marketing channels for the marketing of broom and that there was no market union amongst the marketers and market information was largely from marketing colleagues and personal observation of the marketers. The marketing constraints identified included bulkiness of products, high transport cost, poor access to credit and injury from broom sticks.

Keywords: Broom, Gini-coefficient, Marketing Channel, Production, Constraints

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