Comparative economic analysis of rice parboiling systems in Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study examined the comparative economic analysis of rice parboiling systems in Niger State, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling method was used to select 60 and 10 rice processors from traditional and improved systems respectively. The study was also to identify major inputs used for rice parboiling systems, determine and estimate cost and returns in the parboiling systems, identifying factors hindering the adoption of improved systems in the study area. The data were collected from primary source with the aid of standard questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools, gross margin and Cob-Douglas production model. The result of the analysis indicated that parboiling is done mostly by women, who parboiled between one –three bags per day. In the improved systems, firewood and labour were found to be significant at 1% and 5% and gross margin of N4, 633.50 per batch and traditional systems firewood was significant at 10% and has N839.73 gross margin per batch of parboiled rice. The improved systems had capacity of 250kg-1000kg per batch while the traditional had capacity of 75kg-100kg per batch. The study concluded that rice processing with improved technologies is profitable in the study area.