ISSN 2360-798X
Abstract
Accepted 13th February, 2015
The study examined value chain of hides and skin in Daura area, Katsina State. The socio economic characteristics of traders, organization of flow of hides and skin and profitability along the value chain were analyzed. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 147 respondents (60 small bulking traders also called collectors, 30 large bulking traders, 15 wholesalers known as sub-dealers, 2 dealers i.e tannery agents and 40 Butchers) using simple random sampling. Data elicited were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin, and flow chart analysis. The findings of the study revealed that, leather value chain was male dominated (100%) and 96.25% of the respondents were married. Majority (50%) of the butchers were within the age of 41-60years with household size of 1-10 members. The study also showed that, 54% of the small bulking traders had informal education with mean age of 22 years in business; about 80% of small bulking traders do not belong to any association. Organization of flow of the commodity was fairly simple starting from the slaughter points, 100% of the skins went for processing while 83.7% of hides went for human consumption as ‘Pomo’. Analysis showed that marketing of hides and skin were profitable with gross margin/week of N6, 882.7 for collectors, N13, 368.3 for large bulking, N134, 791.7 for wholesalers and N1, 329,731 for tannery agents. Return per Naira invested was also found to be 0.13, 0.12, 0.1 and 0.03 respectively indicating viability of the business. The study therefore recommends involvement of various stakeholders in the value chain to support in the area of funding/institutional credit facilities, advisory services and capacity building to hides and skins traders and also women should be encouraged to participate as this would reduce unemployment and could help in the women empowerment scheme.
Keywords: Hides, skin, Daura area, Katsina State, Nigeria.