Factors Influencing Resource Use Efficiency Differentials of Farm Size among Cassava Farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the factors influencing resource use efficiency among cassava farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Well-structured questionnaire was administered on 120 cassava farmers using a multistage random sampling. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression model were used to analyze the collected data. Results of descriptive statistics on socioeconomic variables of the farmers revealed that male (83.3%) dominated cassava production in the study area and 60.80% of them were married while 49.2% of the respondents had less than or equal to 5 persons as their household size. Based on their farm sizes, 67.5%, 26.7% and 5.8% of the respondents had ≤3, 3.1-5 and >5 hectares of land respectively. Also, 43.3% of the respondents had secondary education and above. The result revealed further that 59.2% of the cassava farmers were above 50 years, implying that cassava production in the study area was in hands of elderly people, and 60.7% of cassava farmers generated more than ₦50,000 per annum. Result of multiple regression on factors influencing resource use efficiency indicated that gender, capital, farming experience and cassava cuttings are significant at 1% and 5% respectively at all various categories of farm size, indicating that they were the major determinants of output of cassava production. It is therefore suggested that; youth should be encouraged to actively engage in cassava production. Also, financial institutions and governmental agencies should provide assistance that is easy-burdened to cassava farmers in order to boost the production.