Validating the place of Underutilized Indigenous Vegetable (UIV) Marketers: A case of Agrarian Communities, Southwestern Nigeria

Over the years, staple crops have faced several challenges, and a step away from over-reliance on them is very important to achieve food security in Nigeria. Indeed, underutilized vegetables are usually indigenous ancient crops that are still used reasonably in local, national, and even international communities. Hence, this study validates the spatial pattern and network of underutilized indigenous vegetable (UIV) marketers in Ondo State, southwestern, Nigeria with emphasis on fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis), African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon) and Amaranth (Amaranthus virides). A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 120 UIV marketers from 5 villages. Primary data were collected and gathered using structured questionnaires and responses from the interview were coded and analyzed with STATA and UCINET. The study further examines the factors influencing the performance of the UIV marketers and determines the predictors driving association membership using multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression, respectively. The analysis results revealed that the majority (90.83%) of the UIVs marketers are female with a large proportion of the marketers within the age range of 51-60 years. The primary occupation of most of the respondents is trading (51.67%). From the regression results, belonging to a vegetable association is not statistically significant and thus it can be concluded that being a member of a vegetable association does not affect the income of the marketers. This is in sync with the information gathered from the focus group interviews that the association only serve as a medium to get firsthand information on price, product quality, and vegetables demanded. However, from social network analysis, it can also be concluded that the major actors involved in UIV marketing are interrelated and that they transfer information between themselves with the association being the common ground for such exchange. The study recommends that the government should consciously push for the wide acceptance of vegetable cultivation and provide good network roads in rural areas.