Daniel Etim JACOB, İmaobong Ufot NELSON, Enefiok Sunday UDO

Profitability of ornamental plant business in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Ornamental plant enterprise contributes to income generation and socio-economic development of a state, but due to paucity of information on its cost-benefit analysis, it has not been embraced as a viable business venture in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This study therefore, examined the profitability of ornamental plant business in the state. Forty-two ornamental plant nursery operators were identified from six Local Government Areas, namely Eket, Oron, Ikot Ekpene, Abak, Uyo and Etinan, which were purposively selected from the 31 Local Government Areas in the State. Data were generated from these operators using pre-tested questionnaire, oral interviews and direct observation, and analyzed using budgetary technique and multiple regression. The results showed that the business was profitable with mean return of $369.73 (₦131,622.62) per annum to farmer’s labour and management. Nursery size, polypots, seed/cuttings and fertilizer/manure had significant positive effects on revenue (p< 0.01) and (p<0.10) respectively, while rent had significant negative effect on revenue (p<0.05). About 88.66% of variations in the receipts from the business were explained by the variable used in the model. It is therefore recommended that people should be enlightened on the profitability potential of the enterprise in order to encourage young school leavers to go into the business thereby sustaining livelihood and also reduce youth unemployment currently experienced in the country.

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