ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY OF SMALLHOLDER RICE FARMERS IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analysed production efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Two stage sampling procedure were used to 222 rice farmers from the study area. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the use of structure questionnaires. The analytical techniques involved combination of descriptive statistics, and stochastic frontier production analysis. The findings indicated that rice farmers in the study area had an average age of 37 years with the average households’ size of 8 members. Majority (63.06 %) of the rice farmers attended at least primary education with the average literacy level of nine years of schooling. The mean farm size was 1.53 hectares and majority (62.61 %) of the farmers had no contact with the extension agent during the cropping season. The study found that 62.61 % of the rice farmers did not belong to any form of associations with the mean membership of 5 years. The mean rice farming experience was 16 years with 34.68 % of the farmers found between 1-10 years.  The findings of the study inferred that the mean technical, allocative and economic efficiency of the rice farmers were 54.2 %, 94.7 %, and 51.2 %, respectively, indicating the level of production inefficiency of the rice farmers in the study area. The stochastic frontier production function model results showed that estimated coefficients of farm size (β = 0.279; P<0.01), seed input (β = 0.605; P<0.01), fertilizer (β = 0.110; P<0.01), labour (β = 0.097, P<0.01) and agrochemical (β = 0.392; P<0.05) were positive and statistically significant determinants of rice producers. The inefficiency result shows that the estimated coefficients of age (β = 0.561; P<0.05), household size (β = -0.933; P<0.05), year of schooling (β = -0.762; P<0.05), amount of credit received (β = -0.321; P<0.05)  were found to be statistically significant determining inefficiency model. Th study recommended that farmers should adopt cost-effective agricultural practices. This may involve exploring alternative, more affordable inputs, negotiating bulk purchase discounts with suppliers or participating in cooperative buying initiatives.