CONSUMERS’ PREFERENCE AND WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR BEEF AND MUTTON IN MAIDUGURI BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The study examine consumers’ preference and willingness-to-pay for beef and mutton in Maiduguri, Metropolis, Borno State, Nigeria. The study employed a survey research design and a total of four (4) markets were purposively selected in the study area. These markets are where consumers of beef and mutton are predominantly found. The markets includes Gamboru Market, Custom Market, Baga Road Market and Monday Market. A total of one hundred (100) consumers of beef and mutton were randomly and proportionately selected at the point of purchase using snow ball technique from the four markets and used for the study. Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary information sources. The analytical tools employed for this study include descriptive statistics, Hedonic Pricing Model and Probit Regression Model. The socio-economic characteristics of the beef and mutton consumers shows that 30% of the beef and mutton consumers were between 30 – 39 years of ages, 64% of beef and mutton consumers were males, 61% of the beef and mutton consumers were married, 30% of the beef and mutton consumers had less than 5 persons in their households, 27% of the beef and mutton consumers did not undertake any form of formal education, 32% of the beef and mutton consumers had between 11- 20 years of experience in beef and mutton consumption. The result also indicates that 47% of the consumers prefer beef, 9% mostly prefer due to price while 11% due to tastiest and palatability. The result indicates that the coefficients of monthly household income and availability were positive and significant at 1% and 5% respectively. The result of factors influencing consumers’ preference for beef and mutton indicates that the coefficients of age of consumers, health issues and number of years spent in education were positive and significant at 10%. The study recommended that there should be market and pricing strategies since consumers are willing to pay a premium for beef and mutton, stakeholders in the livestock sector should adopt pricing strategies that align with consumers’ income levels while ensuring affordability.