Resource use efficiency of groundnut farmers in Bekwara Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the resource use efficiency of groundnut farmers in Bekwara Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to; describe the socioeconomic characteristics of groundnut farmers, determine the cost and returns of groundnut production, determine the technical efficiency of groundnut farmers, identify the socioeconomic factors influencing technical efficiency of groundnut production. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select groundnut farmers in the area. Data were obtained using a set of structured questionnaire. Descriptive, gross margin analysis and stochastic frontier were used for data analyses. Result from the study showed that majority (51.02%) of the respondents fall within age ranged of 31-40 years, with a mean age of 34 years. Females dominated groundnut production, 67.4% were married, 89.9% had family sizes of 1-10 persons per households, 94.9% had one form of education or the other. The result further shows that majority (79.60%) had 6-11 years of farming experience, 58% had farm sizes of between 1-1.5 hectares. The gross margin analysis shows that groundnut production was a profitable business with a gross margin and net farm income of ₦338, 019.249 and ₦330, 407.51 respectively. The result also revealed that quantity of seed used and farm size had positive and significant relationship with groundnut production. The mean technical efficiency was 0.97 with minimum and maximum efficiencies of 0.85 and 0.99. The inefficiency model showed that educational level, membership to cooperative , access to credit and the amount received were the significant variables that increased the technical efficiency of the respondents. It is recommended that policies by the government and non-governmental agencies should be geared towards encouraging farmers' education on farm management practices so that they would be able to allocate production resources more efficiently especially agrochemicals for optimum yield.