Competitiveness and Comparative Advantage of Cocoa Production in Southwestern Nigeria: A Policy Analysis Approach

Abstract

The study investigated the competitiveness and comparative advantage of cocoa production management systems in the study area. The project was carried out among cocoa farmers in Ondo and Osun States of Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to collect data from the farmers. Data were collected from the respondents with the aid of structured questionnaire and the data obtained from the questionnaire were analysed using Descriptive analysis, Private Profitability, Private Cost Ratio, Social Profitability and Domestic Resource Cost. Most (63.64%) of the respondents are of age 50 years and below while majority (84.09%) of the farmers are having formal education. However, 87.50% of the farmers are having farm size 5 hectares and below. The result of Private Profitability was positive in all the three management systems while the Private Cost Ratio (PCR) was less than one in all the management systems considered. The result of Social Profitability was positive while that of Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) was less than one in all the production management systems. The study concluded that cocoa production is highly competitive in the study area.