ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MAIZE BASED CROPPING ENTERPRISES IN SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL ZONE OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study determined the economic analysis of maize based cropping enterprises in Southern Agricultural Zone of Adamawa State, Nigeria using a randomly selected sample of 130 respondents. Data were collected during the 2018/2019 cropping season and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Gross Margin analysis and Linear Programming model. The results showed that maize based enterprise in the study area is predominantly male activity, with a mean age of 39 years. The average household size of the respondents was 10 persons. Majority (87.69%) of the respondents had one form of formal education ranging from primary, secondary, and tertiary education. An average farmer had 11 years farming experience and cultivated 1.8ha. The Gross Margin analysis revealed that maize based cropping system were profitable with maize/soybean having the highest Gross Margin (N59,760.75) per hectare. The Linear programming model recommended the production of maize/soybean (6.15ha), maize/benniseed (3.35ha) and maize/sorghum (1.50ha) to give a gross margin of N544,999.04. The adoption of the optimum farm plan will increase Gross Margin by 17 percent. The study recommended that farmers should produce crop mixtures of maize/soybean, maize/benniseed and maize/sorghum based on their hectarage allocation as prescribed in the optimum farm plans and extension workers should provide extension services on the appropriate cropping pattern to increase Gross Margin among the maize farmers in the study area.