Intl. J. of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv. 2012, Vol. 2, No.1, 32-38
http://ijmec.sophiapublisher.com
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Transactions largely take place in small scale units of
which 35% are wholesalers and 65% are retailers. The
market operation is seasonal and transaction are more
pronounced during the fruiting season, for this reasons
it is often overlooked and various local uses go
unrecorded. The different constrains experienced by
marketers are majorly storage of which insects
accounted for 53.33%, heat 51.77% and transportation
52.5%.
Majority of the respondents have no formal
education constituting 51.67% of the total respondents
this hinders the sustainable use and adoption of
information available to bring about improvement
which somehow compounded losses in the business.
It is obvious that environmental and economic
viability depends on the nature of harvesting and
processing techniques employed as also revealed by
(
Falconner, 1990). In light of this, all the respondents
were involved in wide range of primary process such
as soaking in water for several days, exposing the nut
to fresh air to dry the moisture content and packaging.
In all the market, women tend to get more heavily
involved than men in the trade. Women were 88.3%
and male 11.67%. This is due to the fact that activities
related to its collection and primary processing tends
to be gender biased. Although as market demands for
product increases, the size of men often displaces
women in certain aspect of the activity as revealed by
Kainer et al (1992). The trade is mostly common
among the poor household and indigenous
communities which tend to be benefactors as an
opportunity for additional employment and income
even when they are involved in other enterprise with
35%
as part- time and 65% full-time traders. This is in
contradiction to Carr et al (2000) that it is often
undertaken as part-time activity which makes them
receives a low returns and makes them more
vulnerable to competition as confirmed in (Falconer,
1992).
The study also reveals the mean rate of return
on investment (ROI) for all the market to be 32.23%
which is in accordance to the estimated value that
rural non-farm work provides 20%~45% of full-time
employment in the rural area and 30%~50% of rural
household income (Kilby and leidhoim, 1986,
Haggblade and hazel, 1989).
Furthermore, because of the difficulties in compliance
with the cooperative organisation (association of
marketers), irregularities in price places consumers at
the mercies of intermediary’s. In consequence, local
markets play an important role in household income
for selling the product. Urbanization also is an
important factor that expands the size of local markets
because it creates increase in demand that is the
inhabitant has to purchase more during festivals and
other related activities. These was visible in the profit
obtained in the various market Ishiun N3293.375,
Lafenwa N8702.83, Kuto N4869.40, Iberekodo
N3127.20. Lafenwa has the highest profit as a result
of closeness to the people. The trader do not always
deal with a single product, there is diversity and if
necessary to cross-subsidies among different related
products such as Garcina cola, honey etc. which
means the profit obtained by selling products can be
used to support other activities (purchase, storage and
processing) in other to cope with the seasonality and
fluctuations of marketing the products (Harris, 1993).
Therefore Colanut played significant role in rural
livelihood importance; the tree can be-termed a magic
tree with different uses, all the components in terms of
the pod, nut, leaves, bark, stem, wood etc are vital raw
material. Industrially it is a good source of essential
vital chemicals used mostly in confectionary
industries; it is used as dye stabilizer and beverage
production like coca-cola. Culturally it is used for
rituals which play important roles in religious affair. It
also contains some nutritive value which can sustain
life for some time even if no food is taken. The
transport condition and storage facility are the biggest
hindrances as mentioned earlier to the expansion of
market. Most people reveal that there is no problem
associated with the extraction which has 100% record,
but that market expansion have been greatly affected
by variability in the season and literacy, more so the
longer years it takes tree to mature which is
considered as capital tie down.
Based on the various facts obtained there is
considerable economic potential from these two cola
species, they contribute immensely to the household
income although only a portion due to diversity in sales
with other related products. Therefore, its importance as
a commercial product under sustainable management is