Comparative analysis of technical efficiency in rice production under small-scale farmer managed irrigation

Project Abstract

<p> This research was designed to determine and compare the technical efficiency and input<br>levels used in rice production under farmer managed irrigation systems (FMIS) and rain fed<br>systems (RFS) in Kogi State. It also compared the effects of socioeconomic characteristics<br>on the technical efficiency of farmers in the FMIS and RFS. Four null hypotheses were<br>tested. The study was conducted in commercial rice producing areas of Kogi State. It<br>adopted a multi stage purposive sampling technique. Agricultural Zones where rice is<br>produced in commercial quantities were purposively stratified into three (3) based on a<br>preliminary survey. From these three zones, one local government area (LGA) each was<br>selected based on the availability of commercial rice farms in the area. Out of these LGAs<br>(Ibaji, Bassa and Kogi LGAs), forty (40) rice farmers each were randomly sampled giving a<br>total sample size of one hundred and twenty (120) rice farmers. Primary data were obtained<br>by interviews via a set of structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive<br>statistics, Levene’s test, Welch and Brown-Forsythe robust tests for equality of means,<br>Chow-break point test and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) of stochastic frontier and<br>inefficiency models.<br>The mean age of farmers in the study area was 42 years. The farmers in<br>the study area spent a mean of 8 years on formal education. Seventy two percent (72%) of<br>the farmers were males while twenty eight percent (28%) were females. Women were not<br>participating remarkably well especially in ownership of rice farms in the study area. The<br>mean value of rice farming experience in the study area was 16years. Results showed that<br>the FMIS had a higher intensity of inputs usage than the RFS. In the input comparison<br>between FMIS and RFS, statistically significant positive mean differentials were recorded<br>for land, fertilizer quantities applied, family and hired labour, quantities of pesticides used<br>on the farm and value of water used on the farm per farming season. The estimated<br>elasticities of mean output with respect to land, fertilizer, family labour, seeds, and water<br>were statistically significant at less than 1 percent and 5 percent in the FMIS. Their<br>respective elasticities were 0.33, 0.010, 0.075, 0.151 and 0.165. It was indicated that land<br>size (farm size) and quantities of fertilizer applied by the farmers, were the statistically<br>significant determinants of technical efficiency in the RFS. The elasticities of rice output with<br>respect to the inputs, land and chemical fertilizer utilized were 0.276 and 0.024 respectively.<br>This result is unlike the FMIS where five variables had statistically significant elasticities.<br>The mean technical efficiency of the FMIS was 73 percent. It was lower than that of the<br>rainfed system which had 90 percent. Significant difference existed in the technical<br>efficiencies of the two groups. The returns to scale estimated, 0.813, and 0.476 for both<br>FMIS and RFS respectively indicated that farms in the study area were characterized by<br>decreasing returns scale. Farming experience, years of formal education and frequency of<br>extension contacts exerted statistically significant effects on the technical efficiencies of the<br>FMIS. Meanwhile four out of the six socio-economic variables, education, extension contact<br>and age of farmers had statistically significant t-ratios or influences on the levels of rice<br>output recorded by the RFS farmers. They were all significant at less than 1 percent alpha<br>level. Significant differences existed in most of the socioeconomic variables of the two group<br>of rice farmers studied in Kogi State. Five major recommendations were made which<br>included the need for capacity building among farmers and extension agents, public<br>investment in irrigation projects, public-private partnership aimed at encouraging resource<br>conservation and inputs supply (including microcredit) to rice growing communities among<br>others. <br></p>

Project Overview