By Madu, Ignatius Ani
The central aim of this research is to investigate the importance of rural markets in rural development by relating their structures, functions and accessibility to indices of rural development. Thirty five communities were selected for the study and data were collected using primary and secondary sources. The data generated were analyzed in stages using appropriate statistical techniques, including centrality co-efficient, network proportions and factor analysis for the assessment of rural market centrality, structures, and factors influencing rural development respectively.