Land Acquisition Strategies and Rice Productivity in Selected Local Government Areas of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of land acquisition strategies on rice productivity in selected Local Government areas (LGAs0 of Niger State, Nigeria. The specific objective were to: identify the determinants of farmers' choice of land acquisition strategy; ascertain the levels of rice productivities under various land acquisition strategies on rice productivity in the study area. Multi-stage sampling technique was used for the selection of 120 respondents from the study areas, namely; Agaie, Katcha and Lavun Local Government Areas. Descriptive statistics, t-test of significance, multinomial logit model, productivity index and multiple regression analysis were used to achieve the objectives of the study. EStimates from the multinomial logit model revealed that the cost of land and ease of access to land were significant determinants of the choice of land acquisition strategy at 1% level of significance; implying that the probability of choosing either the rented or purchased land acquisition strategies will depend on the cost and ease of land acquisition, even though the inelastic nature of the ease of access to land which ranged from - 0.14 to - 0.34, suggested that classification of farmers into any of the groups is not determined by this variable. The regression model further revealed that land acquisition strategies were a weak significant determinant of rice productivity at 10% probability level. estimation of rice productivities under the three (3) land acquisition strategies showed differing productivity levels, which ranged from 2,036 kg/ha under land purchase option to 2,447 kg/ha under rented land acquisition strategy, with no significant differences among the three categories.