Authors:
OLAPADE-OGUNWOLE, Folayimi*, TAIWO, John Olayinka and OJEDOKUN, Idris Kayode ,Nigeria |
Abstract:
Adoption of improved maize production technologies and management practices has received
much attention in recent years because of increase in the demand for maize. Over the years
however, the recorded maize yield of an average Nigeria farmer has not been able to match the
efforts put into effectively make use of modern production technologies and management
practices. The need therefore the examine improved maize production technologies is-a-vis some
management practices becomes pertinent in order to identify th factors responsible for the
inefficiency of maize farmers. This research therefore focused on the adoption effects of crop
management practices on the technical efficiency of maize farmers in Oyo and Osun States
Nigeria.
A multistage sampling technique was used in collecting data from a cross-sectional sample of
300 maize farming households in Oyo and Osun States. Descriptive statistics (means, frequency
counts, percentages, etc.) Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Tobit regression analysis were
employed in analyzing the data. Results from the Tobit analysis showed that adoption is
determined by gender (p < 0.05), years spend in school (p < 0.1) marital status (p < 0.05) and
access to extension training (p < 0.1).
The average overall technical efficiencies for farmers in Oyo State were 41.6 and 69.5
respectively for Constant Returns to Scale, Variable Returns to Scales and Scale Efficiency while
for Osun State; these were 39,66.6 and 61.5 for CRS, VRS and scale efficiency respectively.
These results revealed that substantial inefficiencies exist in the farming operations of the two
states. The return to scale, where the sub-optimal (VRS), optimal (CRS) and super optimal
(DRS) are considered for Oyo State respondents were 88%, 8.7% and 3.3% of the farmers were
respectively. For Osun State respondents, 89.3%, 2.7% and 8% of the farmers were sub-optimal,
optimal and super-optimal respectively. |
