ASSESSMENT OF TECHNICAL AND RESOURCE-USE EFFICIENCY OF YAM PRODUCTION IN UKUM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study analyzed the technical and resource-use efficiency of yam production in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State using Stochastic Frontier Model. Primary data were collected for one year period using structured questionnaire. The result of the summary statistics revealed an average farm size of 3.28 ha/ farmer which was an indication that they were small-scale farmers. The maximum likelihood estimates showed that planting materials, herbicides, capital inputs and fertilizers were the major determinants of the technical efficiency of the farmers in the area. The estimated coefficient of the inefficiency function revealed that sex, level of involvement in farming, membership of cooperative, extension contact and fertilizer usage reduced the technical inefficiency of the farmers. The technical efficiency indices revealed that none of the farmers operated at maximum efficiency frontier level with a mean technical efficiency of 0.638, which implied that the farmers were able to obtain about 64% of yam output from a given mix of production inputs. The result of the resource-use efficiency showed that the farmers were inefficient in the use of their resources. Based on the results, it is therefore recommended that government should organize training programmes to educate the farmers on the technical knowhow of yam production so as to improve their technical efficiency frontier level. In addition, extension agents should be engaged in training the farmers on how they can optimized the use of resources to increase their efficiency level and reduce input wastage.