ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF GROUNDNUT PRODUCTION IN SHIRORO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the economics of Groundnut Production in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. To achieve the objectives of the study, multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 81 groundnut producers. Data were collected from the sampled respondents in single visit interviews using structured questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, farm budgeting model and production function (regression) analysis. Results of the study revealed that most of the respondents were males, married and within productive labour age. Most of the respondents also had modern education (54.32%). They obtained most of their investment capital from informal sources, mainly personal savings, village money lenders, family and/or friends. The result further showed that groundnut production in the area is profitable as revealed by the gross margin and profitability analysis. Similarly, the result of the regression analysis also showed that 70.5% of the variation in the output of groundnut is explained by the variables included in the model (age, farm size, labour input, fertilizer, pesticides) as revealed by R2 = 0.705. Some of the constraints in groundnut production as revealed by the respondents include poor transpiration, inadequate investment capital, water shortage, incidence of pests and diseases, among others. However, incidence of pests and diseases ranked first while shortage of drying space ranked least among these constraints. Therefore, providing better roads, formation of viable cooperative societies and provision of irrigation facilities and establishment of rural financial institutions would further increase productivity and profitability of groundnut production in the area.