AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RAINFED UPLAND RICE PRODUCTION IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined selected socio-economic characteristics of rainfed upland rice growers and discussed the crop's production practices in Ondo State; estimated the gross margin per hectare and determined efficiency of resource-use on rice farms; examined policy implications of major findings and offered policy recommendations towards boosting the output of rainfed upland rice in the State. Data collected from 173 rainfed upland rice growers randomly selected and interviewed in six Local Government Areas in the State were analysed using the gross margin and production function analyses. Results showed that the modal age group of the growers was 40-44 years to which 33.0% of them fell with approximately 56.0% of them falling below the age of 45 years. Modal farm sizes ranged from 1.00-1.99 ha and accounted for 53.7% of the sample but farm sizes below 3.0 ha took approximately 94.0% of the sample. Full-time farmers constituted 50.0% of the growers while part-time growers consisting mainly teachers and civil servants accounted for 19.7% and 10.4% of the pooled growers respectively. Only 11.0% of the pooled growers had no formal education. Labour costs accounted for an average of 81.3% of average variable costJha while purchased inputs and meclmization services accounted for approximately 10.0% and 8.9% of the average variable costJha respectively. The estimated average gross margin/ha ranged from N6,034.83 return on operating expenses which ranged from 33.7% to 53.1% and averaged 38.2%. The estimated production function showed that the included regressors: rice fields, quantity of seeds planted, mandays of hired labour, mandays of family labour, quantities of fertilizers and herbicides; having elasticitites of 0.037, 0.098, 0.248, 0.l61, - 0.311 and 0.437 respectively gave an adjusted R2 -value of 0.662. The sum of input elasticities (0.67) indicated decreasing positive returns to scale but the computed efficiency of resource-use revealed excessive use of each production input.