Resource-productivity, allocative efficiency and determinants of technical efficiency of rainfed rice farmers: A guide for food security policy in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper analyses the resource-productivity, technical efficiency (TE) and allocative efficiency of rain fed farmers in Nigeria. The results of the parameters that enter the production function shows that herbicide has the highest elasticities, then seeds, followed by fertilizer and land while labour has the least contribution to output. Also, the result for the allocative efficiency based on the computed <i>MVP<sub>x</sub></i> = <i>P<sub>x</sub></i> show that none of the respondents optimally allocated the inputs. However, a greater number of the respondents were found to underutilized variables like land, seeds, fertilizer and herbicide (<i>MVP<sub>x</sub></i> < <i>P<sub>x</sub></i>) while a greater number of the farmers over utilized labour (<i>MVP<sub>x</sub></i> > <i>P<sub>x</sub></i>). But in both cases, it was revealed that the use of more labour decreased the rice production from the study faster than any of the selected variables. The mean TE index was found to be 0.75. This suggests that 0.25 of rice yield is forgone due to inefficiency. The significant gamma (γ) value of 0.873 establishes the fact that a high level of technical inefficiency exists among the sampled farmers. Extension contact and access to credit are found to be significant determinants of TE among the farmers. Hence, agricultural policy makers in Nigeria should focus on how farmers could follow appropriate farm practices in the course of technology adoption to prevent under utilization of farm inputs via the intensification of extension activities in the country and accessibility to credit by farmers should be given more priority. Pursuing these will raise the productivity and efficiency of rice production in the country in the long run.