Perceived effects of climate change on profit efficiency among small scale chili pepper marketers in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

In the determination of the level of efficiency of an enterprise, the role of climate change cannot be overemphasized. However, some scholars are of the view that climate change might not really affect the level of efficiency of an enterprise due to its indirect effect on the performance of an enterprise. Understanding the perception of marketers of agricultural produce about climate change in agribusiness is paramount to sustain small scale enterprises. This study sought to analyze the perceived effects of climate change on profit efficiency among small scale chili pepper marketers in Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected with the use of structured questionnaire and analyzed using stochastic frontier production function. A combination of purposive and random sampling techniques was used to select 349 producers and marketers, 152 processors, 143 processed retailers and 145 non-processed retailers giving a total of 789 small scale chili pepper marketers from three (3) agricultural zones that make up Benue State, Nigeria. The result showed that on the average, small scale chili pepper marketers are relatively profit efficient. The results also showed that in the marketing chain, small scale processed retailers had the highest mean profit efficiency (0.86). It was therefore recommended that switching business to adapt to crop varieties (cereal crops) that are more resilient to climate change could be an opportunity to small scale chili pepper marketers struggling with chili pepper to leapfrog previous performance and become more productive. Further, the training on preservation of perishable crop should be given to chili pepper producers and marketers and non-processed retailers given that excessive rainfall decreases their profit efficiency.