Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on agro-inputs distribution in Ogun State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agro-inputs distribution and sales along the agricultural supply chain (ASC) in gun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 96 agro-dealers from the Abeokuta and Ilaro ADP zones of Ogun State. Data were collected and analysed using a computer assisted personalized interviewing (CAPI) system. Findings showed that 89% of the respondents sold agro-inputs in the shops, 26% in the rural villages, and 19.8% at market stands. Due to the lockdown, 68.8% closed down shops for 35-39 days, 92.7% found it difficult to move agroinputs from the stores to the villages, and 85.4% incurred high costs in transporting agroinputs from urban to the rural areas. Likewise, 61.5% reported low patronage of fewer than 10 customers per week while the average weekly sales dropped from 60,000 to 15,600 for maize seeds, 78,000 to 27,000 for herbicides, and 336,000 to 120,000 for fertilizers. The lockdown was significantly affected patronage (beta = 0.64) and sales (beta = 0.72). The COVID19 pandemic affected patronage and sales of agro-inputs in Ogun State.