Analysis of Marketing of Moringa oleifera Lam (Moringaceae) and its’ effect on Environment in South East, Nigeria.

Abstract

Analysis of  moringa oleifera Lam (Moringaceae) product marketing and its’ effect on environment in South East, Nigeria was studied. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to describe the socio-economic characteristic of moringa product marketers, identify the various forms in which moringa are used, determine the marketing margin and marketing efficiency of marketing moringa oleiferia,   analyze the determinant factors to moringa oleifera marketing, identify  the effects of moringa marketing on the environment, identify the technologies used to cushion the effects of moringa marketing on the environment, determine the effect of the marketers’ socio-economic characteristics on their technology adoption decision and identify the constraint to marketing of moringa oleifera products in the study area. A multistage random sampling procedure was used to select120 moringa products marketers in the study area. Primary and secondary data were used to elicit information from the respondents. The objectives of the study were addressed using percentage responses, marketing margin and marketing efficiency models, multiple regression analysis and factor analysis. The results show that the majority of the marketers were males, youthful, large household size, married, educated and members of cooperatives. The most important form of moringa products consumed in the study area was leaf, followed seed and leaf powder. Furthermore, the marketing margin and marketing efficiency results showed to be positive and high respectively. Among the functional forms estimated, the linear form was chosen as the lead equation based on econometric and statistical reasons. The coefficients of age, education and membership of cooperatives had a direct relationship with marketing efficiency. The effects of moringa marketing on the environment were noise, odour, flies, littering of the environment with moringa residues, rodents and mosquito  The technologies used to guide against environmental degradation by moringa marketing were use of nose and  mouth protective gadgets, good ventilation, proper disposal of wastes, proper maintenance of processing plant and use of hearing protective device (HPD)  The determinant factors to the adoption of technology by marketers against environmental dilapidation were household size, educational level, access to credit, membership of organization. Important constraints militating against moringa marketing in the study area were low returns, competition, no financial support, inadequate funding, inadequate raw materials, high cost of transportation and poor communication. These variables fell between factor loading of 0.30 and above at 10 % overlapping variance as contained in factor analysis result. Policies options aimed at enhancing marketers access to free and affordable education, encourage marketers to form cooperatives in order to reduce the transaction cost of marketing and reduce the effects of marketing on te environment,  processor of moringa leaves into powdered form should wear protective devices and for marketers’ access to educational programmes on pollutions and likely consequences.