Abstract
This study examines the enterprise combination in cassava based food crop farming system in Ogun state. Three stage sampling technique was used to select 120 cassava farmers from the study area. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, economic land equivalent ratio (ELER), linear programming and stochastic production frontier to actualize all the objectives. Descriptive statistics was employed for the description of socio-economic characteristics while economic land equivalent ratio (ELER) and linear programming were used for cost-return structure and optimal combination of crops in cassava based farm enterprises respectively. Descriptive statistics shows that most of the farmers are in their late forty with the mean age of the farmers being 48.2 years with 6years of formal education and wealth of farming experience of about 19 years. The farmers cultivated area of land that varies between 0.5ha and 5 hectare with a mean of 2 hectare. All enterprise combinations are profitable; however, cassava/maize/vegetable production enterprise is the most profitable with net farm income of N36649.90 per hectare closely followed by cassava /maize with N36462.67 per hectare. The optimal cassava based combination was actualized by linear programming model which shows that cassava/maize and cassava/maize/vegetable are the optimal combination because only the two combinations contributed to the gross margin and also added zero opportunity cost to the total cost of production. The result also shows that land and capital are the limiting resources whereas labour is not which means that for optimal cassava based production land and capital investment should be increased. In lieu of these findings, farmers in Ogun state farmers should intercrop cassava, maize and vegetables or intercrop cassava and maize, this will not only increase their net farm income per hectare, it will also ensure flow of income during on and off seasons. Farmers should also increase the utilization of the limiting resources, that is capital base and hectrage of land cultivated.
Highlights
Africa socio economic development is mainly agrarian and about 70 percent of the labour force and 80 percent of its poor people are directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture, live in rural area and depend on agriculture for livelihood (New partnership for African development (NEPAD), 2004)
This study examines the enterprise combination in cassava based food crop farming system in Ogun state
Descriptive statistics was employed for the description of socio-economic characteristics while economic land equivalent ratio (ELER) and linear programming were used for cost-return structure and optimal combination of crops in cassava based farm enterprises respectively
Summary
Africa socio economic development is mainly agrarian and about 70 percent of the labour force and 80 percent of its poor people are directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture, live in rural area and depend on agriculture for livelihood (New partnership for African development (NEPAD), 2004). According to Olagunju 2005, agricultural sector is an engine room for sustaining growth of Nigeria economy, he noted that agriculture still remain the mainstay of the economy of most African states, yet current estimates indicates that some 200 million or 28 percent of Africa’s population are chronically hungry (Iheke, 2008). International institute for tropical agriculture (2002) noted that cassava is widely grown in Africa by large numbers of small scale holders across several ecological zones because it is robust crop that can be grown under stress condition. It is a good staple whose cultivation if encouraged can provide the nationally required food security minimum of 2400 calories per person per day (FAO 2000)
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