Determinants of Technical Efficiency in Urban Food Crop Production in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analysed the level and the determinants of technical efficiency among urban crop farmers in Ibadan metropolis. The random sampling technique was used in selecting 85 farmers from the following three areas where urban food crop production is prominent: Ajibode, Ijokodo, and Eleyele. The data were collected through structured questionnaires and analysed using both descriptive statistics and stochastic production frontier based on the Cobb-Douglas production function. The results reveal that farmland, family labour, and plantlings are statistical determinants of urban food crop production in the study area. Fertilizer and hired labour are, however, not statistically significant in influencing urban food crop production. The result of the determinants of technical efficiency model reveals that full-time occupation in urban farming and sole-cropping pattern were positively related to technical efficiency. An increase in the age, experience, and years of formal education of the urban farmers increases the level of technical efficiency. The policy implication is that there are still more opportunities to raise the present level of technical efficiency of urban crop production in the study area. Educating farmers so that they are more receptive to modern improved technologies coming from the agricultural research system can lead to higher output per unit of input.