Assessment of Chainsaw Milling Enterprise in Benue State, Nigeria

The paucity of information on chainsaw milling enterprise has contributed to poor planning and development of timber resources in Nigeria. This study has accessed the marketing efficiency and structure with a view of evaluating its potential contribution to the livelihoods and economic development of Benue State. Multistage sampling technique and purposeful sampling technique were applied to determine the study sample which was drawn from the three geopolitical zones in the State; Zone A, Zone B and Zone C. Applying a sampling intensity of 30%, seven (7) Local Government Areas (LGAs) were sampled from the 23 LGAs of the State for the study. Based on this arrangement 79 chainsaw millers were selected and interviewed on the trading activities. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distribution. Also gross margin analysis, marketing margin, marketing efficiency, Analysis of variance, T-test Statistics, Index of market concentration (IMC), Rate of return on investment (RORI) and Gross Ratio (GR) were used in the determining the profitability and the efficiency of chainsaw millers trading efficiency in the study area. The study revealed that the trade is male dominated having 100% of the respondents as males. Similarly, the indigenous groups dominated the chainsaw milling and with the Tiv having the majority of (65.8%), this was followed by the Idoma (13.7%), Igede, (12.5%) and Igbo (5.5%), Igala and Sura 1.4% each. The study identified 18 timber species that were marketed in the study area and that 2,411, 37,733, and 69,492 volumes were marketed in zones A, B and C respectively. The result of the gross margin and market efficiency showed that that the chainsaw milling activities are profitable and efficient. It revealed the mean monthly gross margin (GM) of 39,688.00, 128,730, and 84,000 with corresponding RORI of 84.19, 43.93, and 1.80 for the chainsaw millers. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of GMs were significant with 0.013. The Total Revenue and Total Variable Cost (TVC) equally showed significance with 0.045, 0.000, 0.000. The IMC, Gini coefficient of 0.1891, 0.3218 and 0.1829, indicated that the concentration was low with income inequality but with a competitive market.