ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY AMONG RICE FARMERS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Increased rice productivity for years is not a solution if rice farming efficiency cannot be sustained for the next hundred years. The study analysed the efficiency of rice farmers in Oyo State. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 128 rice farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained with the aid of well-structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier model were employed in the analysis of the data. Majority (78.1%) of the rice farmers had one form of education or the other while the age of rice farmers ranges from 25 to 78 years and mean age of 47 years. The stochastic frontier results (Maximum Likelihood Estimates) revealed that farm output increases with farm size, hired labour, and fertilizer but decreases with herbicides. Also, technical efficiency of the farmers increases with formal education, farming experience, household size, extension contact and distance of farm to market. The mean technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency of 88.5 percent, 66.9 percent and 58.3 percent respectively showed that there is room for improvement in technical efficiency by 11.5 percent, allocative efficiency by 33.1 percent and economic efficiency by 41.7 percent with the present technology. Policy option requires the rice farmers to reduce the use of agro chemical. Farmers should expand their farm land to ensure efficient utilization of resources. Above all, formal education and adult literacy education should be strengthened among the rice farmers.