Fish trade is an important tool in the distribution of fish and fish products from production point to point of demand. However, there have been challenges in developing inter-regional trade in West Africa as a result of limited empirical evidence anddata on fish trade in the region.Therefore, this study assessed the socio-economic characteristics, profitability, and technical efficiencies of value-chain actors along Nigeria-Benin border. Six States (Oyo, Kwara, Ogun, Lagos, Niger and Kebbi) were purposively selected for the study because they lie along the borders. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 132 artisanal fishermen, 132 fish farmers, 264 fish processors, and 264 fish traders from whom data were collected using focus group discussions and structured questionnaires. The analytical tools used include descriptive statistics, budgetary tools and Cobb-Douglas function. Majority of the respondents were males: 92.42% for artisanal fishermen; fish farmer: 87.88%; fish processors: 54.55%; and fish traders and 59.09%. The average range of the respondents was 40 years. The profitability analysis indicated that artisanal fishermen and fish farmers in Lagos had the highest mean monthly revenues of □ 278,092.50+229,206.53 and □2,408,461.54± 1,249,180.37, respectively those in Kwara State had the least revenues of □61,349.47±3I,665.94 and 0461,511.58±336,954.31 respectively. Smoked fish was the highest product (79.35%) produced by processors while spiced fish and fried fishwere the least (1.11% and 1.52%).The smoked fish were processed from the fresh fish 'imported' across the Nigeria-Benin border in Ogun State.The Cobb-Douglas function indicated that the fish farmers and fish processors had technical efficiency of 0.88±0.02 and 0.89±0.02, respectively. In conclusion, value-addition is imperative for efficient and effective inter-regional fish trade irrespective of the fish products. Although, inter-regional trade was observed among the fish processors and traders, thepercentage of processed fish products (dried and smoked fish) traded and the number of value-chain actors involved was extremely low.This study therefore recommends the need for provision of adequate fish trade facilities to boost inter-regional trade inthe study area.
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