[01] Abah Daniel Abah, Department of Agribusiness, College of Management Sciences, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. [02] Abu Godwin Anjeinu, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. [03] Ater Peter Iorhon, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

This study analysed the performance of paddy rice marketing in Benue State, Nigeria. The population of the study was made up of rice farmers in the three (3) geopolitical Zones of the State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used for this study. One Local Government Area was selected from each of the geopolitical Zones. A total of two hundred and forty questionnaires were administered to the respondents. The objectives were achieved using descriptive statistics and Gross Margin analysis while the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis, student t-test and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation. Majority (68.1%) of the respondents have attained some formal education, (66.9%) have market experience of over ten years, (50.7%) have household size between 6 and 10, (87.3%) are less than fifty years of age, (89.3%) are male while, (65.4%) are small holder farmers with sales income of 200,000 Naira or less per annum. The study also found that Gross Margin per hectare for paddy production in the study area was 112,123.56 Naira while paddy rice marketing was 126% price efficient. The study accepts the alternate hypotheses that states that: the socio-economic characteristics of respondents have significant effect on efficiency; rice marketing in Benue State is profitable and the null hypothesis which states that the rice market in Benue State is not integrated. The study recommends that government should rehabilitate rural feeder roads to enable easy movement of produce and provide credit to encourage increase in farm sizes while marketers should form unions to enable them benefit from economy of scale and enrol for training on entrepreneurship.

Market Performance, Paddy, Rice, Marketing, Costs and Returns, Price Efficiency, Market Integration

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