Abstract
The study analyzed the economics of Moringa oleifera value chain in selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Northern Taraba state, namely: Ardo-kola, Karim-lamido, Yorro and Zing. The broad objective was to analyse Moringa oleifera value chain with a view to understand the contributions of the value chain to the participants‟ livelihood, namely: processors, marketers and consumers. The specific objectives were to determine the influence of the socio-economic characteristics on the efficiency of the market; analyse the structure, conduct and performance of the Moringa oleifera value chain. Data for the study was obtained from 284 respondents purposely selected consisting of 44 processors, 120 marketers and 120 consumers. Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), and linear regression were used to analyse the data. Result revealed that Linear regression showed that age was significant at 10%, formal education was significant at 1%, marital status was significant at 5% and gender was significant at 10%. The HHI revealed that there was high competition and low concentration across all the markets; in Karim-lamido LGA, only the oil industry had HHI of 1804, implying a highly concentrated market with low competition. In Yorro LGA, all the markets had low concentration and high competition as revealed by the HHI fresh leaves (13.98), dry leaves (13.21), seeds (29.74) and oil (43.07). Zing LGA had HHI of fresh leaves (91.99), dry leaves (3856.78), seed (180.13) and oil (221.56). All the industries, as evident from the result, had low market concentration, except for the dry leaf industry, with HHI value of 3856.78. Processors‟ marketing efficiency value was 292.2%, which indicated a highly efficient market, while the marketers had marketing efficiency value of 96.59%. It was recommended that participants should form cooperatives, so that resources can be pooled together to obtain modern facilities to improve product processing. Also, the state Ministry of Agriculture should establish Moringa oleifera seed multiplication units and Moringa oleifera plantation.