Allocative Efficiency of Maize Production in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the allocative (cost) efficiency of maize production in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 100 respondents. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier cost function model. Results revealed that 87% of the respondents were males with 99% of the farmers in their working age group of between 21-60 years. Most (81%) of them were married with 52% of the maize farmers having household size of more than 5 people. Also, 52.0% had post primary school education. The results of the maximum likelihood estimate parameters of the stochastic frontier cost function revealed that cost of maize output, cost of labour, cost of fertilizers, cost of seeds and cost of transportation were significant at 1% level of probability. The allocative efficiency indices revealed that allocative efficiency of the sampled farmers ranged from 1.05 to 3.25 with a mean of 1.31, implying that an average farmer in the study area has costs that are about 31% above the minimum defined by the frontier. This shows that 31% of their costs are wasted compared to the best farmers producing the same maize output using the same technology. The study therefore recommends that adequate farm inputs should be provided at low cost to the farmers and adequate training should be given to the maize farmers in the area of minimizing their expenses on farm inputs in order to avoid cost wastage and become more efficient in allocation of their resources.