Assessment of Price Transmission and Market Integration of Pawpaw and Leafy Telfairia in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study investigated the dynamics of price transmission and market integration of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the rural and urban markets of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Monthly market prices (measured in naira per kilogram) of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the rural and urban markets were used in the analysis. The data covered the period from January 2005 to September 2013. The data was obtained from the quarterly publications of the Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Development Programme (AKADEP). The trend analysis showed that, prices of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the rural and urban markets have positive significant relationships with time and positive exponential growth rate. The Pearson correlation coefficient of each of the respective pair of rural and urban price of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin revealed significant positive and symmetric relationships. The result implies the existence of symmetric price information flows on pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the rural and urban markets of the state. The bivariate Granger causality test revealed bi-directional relationships between the rural and urban price of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the State. This further substantiates the strong co-movement of prices of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the rural and urban markets and strong evidence of market integration. The equation for the law of one price revealed the presence of significant long run market integration between the rural and urban price of pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin in the study area. Based on the findings, it is recommended that, the Akwa Ibom State government should continue to provide marketing infrastructures in the rural areas to improve the symmetric nature of information among pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin markets in the state. The government of Akwa Ibom State should established market information centers and awareness programmes on mass media to facilitate efficient communication and flow of information among pawpaw and leafy fluted pumpkin producers and consumers in the state.