PRODUCTIVITY FACTOR AND CONSTRAINTS ASSOCIATED WITH YAM FARMING AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the productivity factor and constraints associated with yam farming among smallholder farmers in Delta State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from a cross-section of 208 respondents through the administration of 230 questionnaires and adopting the multistage sampling method. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Marginal Value Productivity (MVP). The results showed that males dominated yam production (93.3%), the respondents were ageing (mean = 53 years) and a majority (85.1%) of them were married. They had a low level of education and farming experience of 7 and 20 years respectively. The result also revealed that farmers in the study area cultivated an average of 2 hectares. The farmers were found to operate at an increasing return to scale (RTS = 1.545). Allocative efficiency was never achieved in yam production in the study area with the ratio of marginal value product (MVP) of the inputs to the inputs’ acquisition prices found to be either less than unity or greater than unity. The problems facing yam production in the study area were; Low price of the product (mean = 2.79), high cost of staking (mean = 2.66) and high cost of labour (mean = 2.62). The study concluded that no allocative efficiency in yam production was achieved implying that there was inefficient allocative efficiency in yam production in the study area; Factors such as land, seedlings and labour were over-utilized while staking material and seedlings were under-utilized by small-scale yam farmers in the study area. It was recommended that provision should be made by relevant authorities to make land available to prospective yam farmers to avoid the over-use of the farmer’s existing holdings, the high cost of labour should be addressed through the mechanization of some of the operations in yam production and the attraction of yam-producing communities to the young school leavers through the provision of basic amenities