**2. Methodology**

The study area was Ibadan (7o 231 47<sup>1</sup> N 3o 551 01 E), capital of Oyo state. The city has a tropical wet and dry climate. There are eleven local government areas in Ibadan. The city is a major center for trade in horticultural commodities such as plantain, banana, cucumber, watermelon and arable crops [12].

Multistage sampling technique was employed in the selection of respondents. The first stage involved purposive selection of two local government areas (Ibadan North and Ibadan North West) with effective cucumber marketing while stage two involve selection of major markets noted for cucumber marketing in the local government while the third stage involve random selection of 54 retailers and 16 wholesalers in the selected markets.

Primary data was collected with the aid of well-structured questionnaire. Socio economics characteristics of marketers was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages. Market performance was analyzed using the net marketing margin and efficiency while the market structure was estimated using Gini coefficient. Gini coefficient is used to measure statistical dispersion and is a concentration indices and it utilizes market shares to determine the extent of

**53**

*Market Performance and Structure of Cucumber in Ibadan, Oyo State*

market concentration [13]. The close the value of Gini coefficient is to unity, the greater the degree of inequality [14]. The net marketing margin is the difference between gross return and total cost involved in marketing while the marketing

Findings revealed that most of the retailers (70.37%) and wholesalers (81.25%) were male indicating dominance of male folks in cucumber marketing in the study area. Most of the retailers (42.59%) were within 31–40 years age group whereas majority of the wholesalers (43.75%) were within the age group of 41–50 years indicating that the wholesalers were older than the retailers in the study area. Most of watermelon marketers which is also a curcubit like cucumber were also within the age group of 31–40 years indicating that the marketers were young and agile [11]. All the wholesalers were married while 66.67% of the retailers were married. Most of the retailers (74.0%) and wholesalers (68.8%) were educated at the primary and secondary level. Whereas most of the watermelon marketers in Oyo state (54.4%) had no formal education [11]. Most of the retailers had up to 6–10 years' (44.44%) experience in cucumber marketing whereas the wholesalers had more years of experience in the marketing 11–15 years (31.25%). Most of the retailers (87%) and wholesalers (75%) had 1–5 members in their respective household. All the wholesalers had marketing of vegetable as their main occupation while 98.1% of the retailers had marketing as their main occupation and the major source of capital was from personal savings. Only 22% of the retailers were members of association while majority of the wholesalers (75%) were members of association such as cooperative society. Majority of the retailers (88.9%) and Wholesalers (56.3%) have not received training on vegetable marketing. The marketers had poor extension contact in the study area. Majority of the retailers (98.1%) and wholesalers (93.8%) had no contact with extension agents in their marketing

**Characteristics Retailers Wholesalers Average % Sex** Male 70.37 81.25 75.81

**Marital Status** Single 31.48 15.74

**Educational level** No formal 25.9 31.3 28.6

Female 29.63 18.75 24.19

21–30 25.93 12.97 31–40 42.59 18.75 30.67 41–50 20.37 43.75 32.06 51–60 3.70 31.25 17.48 61–70 3.70 6.25 4.98 Choose not to say 3.70 1.85

Married 66.67 100 83.34 Divorced 1.85 0.93

Primary 29.6 18.8 24.2

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96187*

**3. Results and discussion**

activities (**Table 1**).

**Age** Below 20

efficiency is used to compare return per unit cost.

**3.1 Socioeconomic characteristics of marketers**

market concentration [13]. The close the value of Gini coefficient is to unity, the greater the degree of inequality [14]. The net marketing margin is the difference between gross return and total cost involved in marketing while the marketing efficiency is used to compare return per unit cost.
