Abstract
The study on the determinant of rain-fed and dry season rice farming in Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria estimated the production function of rice farmers at rain-fed, as well as at dry season. The study equally looked at the challenges confronting rice farmers in the study area at both season. A well-structured questionnaire as well as face to face interview were the research instruments used to elicit information from randomly selected 100 (70 rain-fed and 30 dry seasons) rice farmers for the study. A combination of analytical tools were utilized, multiple regression and principal factor analysis were the research models used to operationalize the study concept. The regression result with the highest significant variables as well as the highest coefficient of multiple determinant (R2) were chosen as the lead equation, while each challenges confronting rice farmers at both season in the study area were named according to the factors with the highest loading. The study found out that the R2 for both rain-fed and dry season rice farming was 0.8951 and 0.7999 respectively. These confirms that the error beyond the control of the farmers at rain-fed was 10.5% and 20.0% at dry season. The study equally revealed that the determinants of rain-fed rice farming were fertilizer (β = 0.484 and t = 5.11**), urea (β = 0.661 and t = 4.43**), agro-chemical (β = 27.488 and t = 4.65**) and labour (β = 28.008 and t = 4.42**). While labour supply (β = 39.425 and t = 16.09**) and farm size (β = 250.344 and t = 4.19**) were the determinants of dry season rice farming in the study area. Environmental factor accounted for 21.42% and 21.79% of the variance of factors challenging rice farming at rain-fed and dry season respectively. Institutional factor accounted for 15.34% and 17.90% of the variance of factors challenging rice farming at rain-fed and dry season respectively, and Economic accounted for 13.51% and 14.37% of the variance of factors challenging rice farming at rain-fed and dry season respectively. The three factors explained 50.28% and 54.06% of the variance of the factors challenging rice farming at both season in Ayamelum Local Government Area.
Highlights
Rice is one of the fastest growing staples in the food basket of many families in Nigeria, its production is a major source of employment, income generation and nutrition in many poor food in-secure households in Nigeria and the world at large [1, 2]
The main aim of this study is to find out the determinants of rain-fed and dry season rice farming in Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State
The coefficient of Multiple Determinant R2 (0.8951) indicates that 89.51% of the variation in rice output was explained by the joint actions of the exogenous variable, while the remaining 10.49% was as a result of error beyond the control of the rice farmers
Summary
Rice is one of the fastest growing staples in the food basket of many families in Nigeria, its production is a major source of employment, income generation and nutrition in many poor food in-secure households in Nigeria and the world at large [1, 2]. Farmers can still undertake rice farming under rain-fed and irrigated system as a quick way of generating income in the agricultural sector [3]. Nigeria has been reported as the nineteenth largest producer of rice in the world, surpassed in Africa by Egypt and Madagascar [4]. Notwithstanding this fact, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) assert that Nigeria is the largest importer of rice in Africa [5]. 15% of the total land area (1.8 million hectares) available for cereals cultivation in Nigeria is utilized by rice farmers [7]. The most important land area (mangrove swamp) for rice farming
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