Comparative analysis of resource use efficiency of cereal crop enterprises in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State.

Abstract

This study examines the resource use efficiency in cereal crop enterprise production in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State. The two cereal crops selected were rice enterprise and sorghum enterprise. Data for the study was collected from 40 rice farmers and 40 sorghum farmers randomly selected in five villages. The data collection was from October December, 2006 cropping season. Production function analysis which incorporates the conventional neoclassical test of economic and technical efficiencies were used as the analytical techniques. Profitability analysis was also used to determine the profitable enterprise. Findings revealed that for rice production fertilizer input was optimally utilized by the farmers while other inputs seeds, labour, fertilizer and farm size were used. On the other hand in sorghum production all the inputs seed, labour, fertilizer and farm size were over utilized. The profitability analysis revealed that rice enterprise was the most profitable with a mean net farm income value of N1,419,600.00 per hectare while sorghum ad a net farm income of N7,799/ha. The results show that there is the need for farmers to be advised on the appropriate allocation of resources to boost efficiency and output. This would mean using less of seeds input, labour and farm size for rice production, while for sorghum production less of all the inputs should be used.