ISSN 2375-0693
African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (4), pp. 345-350, April, 2016. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Evaluation of the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers and their profit efficiency: Empirical evidence from South western Nigeria
Zamanti M. I.1 and Jaderka O. N.2
1Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Luyengo Campus, P. O. LUYENGO, M205, University of Swaziland, Swaziland.
2Department of Management Science, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:[email protected]
Accepted 14 January, 2016
Abstract
This study examined the profit efficiency in cassava production with a view to isolating significant factors leading to variation in farm-specific profit inefficiencies among cassava producers, using Southwestern Nigeria as a case study. Cross sectional data obtained from 109 representative samples of cassava producers with the aid of structured questionnaire supplemented with oral interview were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics to explain the socio-economic characteristics of the cassava producers and stochastic frontier profit function to estimate profit efficiency of cassava producers in the study area. Results showed that about 51% of cassava producers had formal education; about 50% had more than ten years of farming experience while the average age, household size and farm size of the respondents stood at 46 years, 8 people and 3 hectares respectively. Result of the analysis further showed that the profit efficiencies of the farmers ranged between 20% and 91%, while the mean level of profit efficiency was 79% which suggested that an estimated 21% loss in profit was due to a combination of both technical and allocative inefficiencies. The study further showed that household size and farm size were the major significant factors which influenced profit efficiency positively. The study concluded that there is scope for increasing profit efficiency in cassava production by directing policy focus on these profit efficiency factors.
Key words: Profit efficiency; cassava producers; South Western Nigeria.