Abstract
The study examined the effect of Anchor Borrowers Programme on technical efficiency of beneficiary rice farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria. A Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 500 beneficiary and non-beneficiary rice farmers each giving a sample size of 1000 rice farmers for the study. Data collected were analyzed using stochastic frontier production function. Results from the technical efficiency estimates showed that the beneficiary rice farmers had mean value of 0.91 while the non-beneficiary farmers had mean value of 0.79 The study indicated that although both categories of farmers were inefficient in the use of existing resources, the ABP beneficiaries are more technically efficient suggesting that ABP enhances the technical efficiency of the beneficiary farmers. Results also show that for the beneficiary rice farmers, Age was significant and positively related to technical efficiency at 12% level of probability and Educational level, Farming experience, membership of cooperative, seed variety, planting technology and income level had negative relationship with technical efficiency at 1% level of probability while for non-beneficiary farmers. Age had positive relationship with technical efficiency at 1% while Educational level, Farming experience, membership of cooperative, seed variety, planting technology and income level had negative relationship with technical efficiency at 1% level of probability. It is recommended that Policies should be tailored towards inclusiveness of more farmers into the ABP. The programme should also be extended to cater for other sub-sectors of the Agricultural sectors such as Livestock and Aquaculture.
Highlights
Rice is an important cereal crop in Nigeria, with its consumption share increasing from 15% in the 1970s to 26% in the early 1990s [1]
The results further showed that agrochemicals were positively related to the yield of rice by the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) beneficiary rice farmers at 1% level of significance, while in the case of non-beneficiaries it was negative at 1% level
Results revealed that even though ABP beneficiary and non- beneficiary rice farmers are not fully efficient in the use of existing resources, results suggests that ABP beneficiary farmers are better off in the use of existing resources
Summary
Rice is an important cereal crop in Nigeria, with its consumption share increasing from 15% in the 1970s to 26% in the early 1990s [1]. Even though total rice production has increased over the last two decades, the increases have not been sufficient to meet the increasing demand from the rapidly growing population. Significant increase in rice production started in 2013, as a result of fertilizer availability under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the Federal Government and the Fadama II and III programs in collaboration with the World Bank, Kebbi State Agricultural Development Programmes [3]. Despite a multiplicity of Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) policies in the rice sub-sector, rice production has not matched the growing domestic demand. In 2014, rice demand was estimated at 5.9 million Metric Tons (MT) while only 2.7million MT was locally produced, leaving a supply gap of 3.2 Million MT [1]. The main drivers of the growing demand for rice are population growth, rapid
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