A B S T R A C T 

This study examined the organization and performance of chicken egg marketing in northern Ghana, relying on cross-sectional data from 180 randomly selected chicken egg marketers. Using descriptive statistics, Gini coef- ficient and gross margin analysis, the results revealed four chicken egg marketing channels, viz. Direct sales to consumers, itinerant wholesalers, sedentary wholesalers and retailers. The retailer marketing channel is the most patronized channel in the study area, followed by the wholesaler channel. The consumer marketing channel is the least patronized channel. A chicken egg marketer earns an average monthly gross margin and net return of GH₵807.40 and GH₵692.10, respectively. These findings suggest that the checking egg marketing in northern Ghana is lucrative. The Gini Coefficient of 55.87% implies moderate inequality among the marketers, and the market share is said to be oligopolistic.

1. Introduction

The livestock sub-sector plays an essential role in Ghana’s agricul- tural GDP with a contribution of about 6.2% [1]. Apart from employ- ment creation and income generation, the livestock sub-sector contributes to enhancing food and nutrition security of households via the provision of meat, eggs, milk, among others [2]. In addition, live- stock provides nonfood benefits to rural households, particularly in developing countries including Ghana. Specifically, livestock provides draft power, transportation, household energy, manure, among others [3], all of which contribute to enhancing rural household welfare.

In Ghana, the poultry plays an important role in the overall livestock sub-sector. Poultry products, particularly chicken meat and eggs, have been noted as the most popular source of animal protein in Ghana [4]. Although the poultry sub-sector has a higher potential to grow and contribute significantly to sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction among rural households in Ghana, domestic production remains low, making it difficult to meet local consumption demand [5,6]. Research indicates that the demand for poultry products stood at 400,000 metric

tonnes in 2021 [4]. However, over 80% of this demand requirements are met through imports [6]. The high demand for the poultry products is attributable to growing population and middle-class, rising urbanization and incomes [5,6].

Several production and marketing constraints have been identified as contributory factors to the huge gap between domestic production and supply of the poultry products in Ghana. Poor quality hatcheries, limited access to production technologies, inefficient production sys- tems, among others have been identified as the production level con- straints [7,8]. At the marketing level, the constraints identified include, but not limited to limited knowledge in handling eggs, lack of effective marketing techniques, weak input supplier-marketer linkages, inade- quate market infrastructure, among others [7,8]. The government of Ghana in collaboration with other development partners have imple- mented a number of development interventions aimed at revamping the poultry industry, as well as contributing to ameliorating these multiple production and marketing constraints in Ghana. An example is the Ghana Poultry Program (GPP), a five-year intervention funded by the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) and implemented by