Abstract:
This study evaluated the efficiency of resource utilization among small scale maize farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area, it determined technical efficiencies among the respondents and determined profitability of maize farming in the study area. It also identified the major constraints militating against maize production in the study area. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 195 respondents, and a well-structured questionnaire was administered on the farmers selected from three local government areas, out of the 195 questionnaires administered 150 were consistent and analyzed. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin and stochastic frontier production function.
The result of the descriptive statistics revealed that most (59%) of the farmers was more than 50 years of age, more than 60% have been engaged in maize farming for over 10 years and over 70% of the farmer had formal education i.e. they can read and understand written materials. Also, farming in the study area was mainly on subsistence level as the mean farm size was 0.61 hectare. The stochastic frontier production function showed that farm size, cost of seed and cost of fertilizer are significant determinants of productivity, while level of education, years of farming experience and variety of seed was the significant determinants of the efficiency of the farmers in the study area.
The result further showed that estimated value of return to scale (RTS) 0.196 showed that farmers were experiencing positive decreasing return to scale and farming operation was in state II of production. The finding was further collaborated by the mean technical efficiency of 0.89, indicating that an average farmer in the study area was relatively efficient in allocating their scarce resources. The estimated gamma parameter or variance ratio (γ) of 0.28 in the study area indicates that 28% of the total variation in maize output is due to differences in their technical efficiencies.
The gross margin analysis showed that farmers in the study area was profitable with the average variable cost (AVC) N42,900, average revenue (AV)as N311,974 and the average gross margin of N387,413 per hectare of farm land.
The study succeeded in providing an in-depth understanding of the production environment of the maize farmers in the study area, specifically showing that maize production is profitable
