PROBLEMS OF GUINEA CORN MARKETING IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examines the problems of sorghum marketing in Nasarawa State. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data during the 2013 farming season from two hundred and forty food marketers across six local government areas of the state. The descriptive statistics were used to analyze and describe the data collected while the Kohls(1985) formula was used to determine the estimates of market margins and marketing efficiency was calculated using Olukosi and Isitor (1990) formulae. The results indicate that the average farm gate price of guinea corn was N10 000 per 100 kg bag. The average marketing cost was N1, 100 per bag and average net marketing margin was N1, 233.3 per bag. The average marketing efficiency was 106.5 .The major problems confronting guinea corn marketing; transportation problem, inadequate market infrastructure, inadequate funding, and shortage of processing facilities, seasonality and perishability of food produce and ethnic crisis. To improve guinea corn marketing in the study area it is recommended that adequate transportation facilities should be provided by government, private individuals and corporate groups; research into post-harvest storage and processing techniques should be intensified; and funds should be made available to food marketers so that they can take advantage of bulk purchasing, market expansion and post-harvest processing.