Profitability of Watermelon (Citrillus lanatus) Marketing in Bauchi Metropolis of Bauchi State, Nigeria

The study sought to determine the profitability and constraints to watermelon marketing in Bauchi metropolis of Bauchi State and a sample of 75 marketers were randomly selected from the markets and streets in the metropolis. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire complemented with interview and were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and percentages) and farm budgeting technique. The results showed that all the marketers in Bauchi metropolis were male, with most (77.34%) within the age bracket of 21-40 while 56.0% of the marketers were married with household size of 1-5 person which constituted 74.67%. Most (89.34%) of the marketers had marketing experience of 1-10 years while 97.33% of the marketers had one form of education or the other. Furthermore, the result of the study revealed that water melon marketing was a profitable venture in the study area with N0.32k profit on every naira invested in the business. Despite the profit some constraints were encountered in the marketing of water melon, which include inadequate capital, followed by lack of credit facilities. It is therefore, recommended that the marketers should form association in order to access loans from financial institutions.