Profitability of Okra Production and Marketing in Imo State

This study looked at the profitability of okra production and marketing in Imo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage and random sampling technique were used to select 81 respondents for this study. Information on the objectives of this study was elicited from the sampled respondents through a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as the mean, frequency distribution, percentage, gross margin analysis and multiple regression model. Majority of the
respondents were females (79.0%), married (95.1%) and educated (45.7%) with a mean age of 52 years. The gross margin analysis estimated the farmers gross margin to be N130,873.36 with a net profit of N93,583.35.furthermore,the rate of returns to
investment was estimated to be 114.6% with a benefit cost ratio of 2.15, showing that okra production and marketing in the study area is thus a viable and profitable business that need to be encouraged. Again the Cobb-Douglas function produced the lead equation with the independent variables been highly significant at 1%. All the
explanatory variables were positively correlated except age and were significant at 1% alpha level. About 81.1% of the total variation in productivity was explained by the explanatory variables investigated. Majority of the respondents indicated lack of storage facilities (96.3%) and high cost of labour (81.5%) as their major production and marketing constraints. Similarly, a call on the government to address the challenges of these farmers were recommended to enable the farmers
increase output and enhance food security.