ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY: A CASE STUDY OF SMALL-SCALE DATE PALM FARMERS IN DUTSE AND KIYAWA LGA OF JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study aimed at determining the allocative efficiency of small-scale date palm farmers in Dutse and Kiyawa LGA of Jigawa State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to a total of one hundred and thirteen (113) small-scale date palm farmers. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using Frequency and percentages, and stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas cost function. The result from the stochastic frontier cost function reveals the gamma (γ) parameter as 0.994, this implies that about 99.4% of the variation in output among date palm farmers in the study area was due to cost inefficiencies. The estimated elasticity for the number of trees and quantity of pollen were significant at 0.01% probability level. The mean allocative efficiency was 0.50 this shows that 50% of the farmers are allocative efficient. The result revealed that years of experience is the only variable that does not contribute to allocative inefficiency. It was concluded that date palm production is a profitable enterprise, but 50% of the small-scale date palm farmers are allocative inefficient. The study recommends that government should enact a policy to attract youth into date palm production and the government should give farmer’s education high consideration for efficiency in date production.