Volume 1 (Issue 2) 2021 Article 18

ABSTRACT:

The study analyzed the technical and resource use efficiency of yam production in southern Taraba state, Nigeria; specifically, the study estimated the technical efficiency of yam production in the study area, determined the factors influencing of technical inefficiency and the resource use efficiency of the respondents in the study area. A multistage purposive and simple random sampling were employed in the study. Stochastic frontier production function was used to analyze the data collected with the aid of structured questionnaire. The results of the analysis showed that the mean technical efficiency of the farmers was 0.85.This implies that on the average, output fall by 15% from the maximum possible level due to inefficiency. The result of the inefficiency model revealed that age (-0.46784273), household size (-0.35482490), education (-0.652), access to credit (-0.9386683) and farming experience(-0.59852977) were the significant factors that influenced technical inefficiency among yam farmers in the study area. Also, the result of the resource use efficiency estimate showed that production inputs were not efficiently utilized by the farmers in the study area. It is therefore recommended that since the yam farmers are not realizing their full production potential, there is a need for sustained improvements on performance through enhanced roles by the government in educating farmers. Government should initiate policies that will encourage the experienced yam farmers to remain on the farm while young educated ones are motivated to take up yam production to solve the problem of ageing yam farmers. Farmers should also be sensitized on the need to register with adult/continuing education centres to improve on their education which will facilitate their adoption of innovation for production efficiency. Government should make available credit facilities to farmers to enable improve their production efficiency.