Thesis and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

https://keffi.nsuk.edu.ng/handle/20.500.14448/2879

Browse

Browsing Thesis and Dissertations by Author "Okeke, Immaculate Nnennaya"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    ANALYSIS OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTION RISK AMONG SMALL SCALE MAIZE FARMERS IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (FCT) ABUJA, NIGERIA
    (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND EXTENSION FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI,, 2021-02-11) Okeke, Immaculate Nnennaya
    Technical efficiency and production risk play key role in farmers’ decisions pertaining to input allocation and subsequent output. The study provided empirical evidence on the valuation of technical efficiency as well as risk in production among maize farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 152 respondents. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier function with a heteroskedastic error structure. The socioeconomic results of the farmers show that (81%) of households are males and married. The result also indicated that 82% of the farmers aged above 40 had average age of 49. It was also observed that 85.6% of the respondents were literate with at least primary school level. The result further shows that majority (71.7%) of the farmers’ household size was between 6 and 10 peoples with average of 9 persons. Majority of them had farming experience of 20 years and above. Furthermore, farm size significantly influenced the results of their production at 1% significance level while agrochemicals influenced maize farming at 10% significance level. An increasing return to scale in maize production was observed in the study area. From among the production inputs considered by the respondents, only seed was found to significantly reducing risk. The technical efficiency of farmers in the area ranged between 0.01-0.94 with a mean efficiency of 0.73(73%). This implies that, on the average, up to 27% of the output was lost as a result of technical inefficiency in production. Years of farming experience and household size were significant at 1% and therefore constitute major determinants of technical efficiency. The major constraints faced by the respondents include; pests and diseases, inadequate credit facility, soil infertility and high cost of inputs. It is recommended that to meet the growing demand for maize, effort should be made to improve the farmers’ skill through regular training on application of best farm practices. Furthermore, credit facility in form of farming materials and implements should be provided to the farmers to enhance the capacity of addressing constraints to maize production in the study area.