RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY IN IMPROVE HYBRID TOMATO PRODUCTION IN AKWA IBOM STATE, SOUTHERN REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The study estimates the technical efficiency of tomato farmers in Akwa Ibom State in the Southern Region of Nigeria. One hundred and twenty tomato farmers were randomly selected using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and maximum likelihood estimation of the stochastic Cobb- Douglas production function were used to analyze the collected data. The results of socioeconomic characteristics showed that male farmers dominated tomato cultivation in the region. The majority of farmers were relatively young, educated, and had moderate household size but low social capital accumulation. The empirical results identified seeds, manure, fertilizer, farm size, hired labour and family labour as significant inputs in tomato production. The study found decreasing return to scale in tomato production in the region. An average technical efficiency index of 0.797 was estimated, which corresponds to an efficiency gap of approximately 20.30%. Determinants of technical efficiency were: farming experience, socialization, education, training, farm income, household size and non-farm income. To increase the technical efficiency of tomato farmers, it is recommended that they should be encouraged to join existing cooperatives to obtain production information that would improve their technical efficiency; and providing formal education, especially in rural areas, would encourage tomato farmers to update their knowledge and acquire more skills necessary for efficient management of farm resources.