Survey of Agricultural Power Units and Machinery Purchase Prices in Selected Locations of Kaduna State – Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the purchase price of power units and machineries in selected major agricultural towns of Kaduna State (Kaduna, Zaria and Saminaka). Data for the study was obtained from a sample survey that was conducted in 2018 amongst the three selected areas of the state through a well structural questionnaire. It was deduced that 45% of the respondents believed that individual purchase of farm machinery were more often than non-governmental organization having 22%, while government organization and institutions both recorded 11%. The highest unit price of power unit was found to be 169,946.33 Naira/kW, and the lowest was 11,718.75 Naira/kW. Also the highest unit price of machines was found to be 1,500,000 Naira/meter, while the lowest was 70,000 Naira/meter. The research also explored, the most common factor(s) that affects farmers’ decision in purchasing agricultural machines and power unit. It was found that these factors include but not only limited to the cost of spare parts, availability of spare parts and ease of repair and maintenance. Results of this study also show that prices of power units and machines vary from one place to another. There was a non-linear relationship between price and machine width. These were due to the fact that there are other factors that influence the price of machine besides its width. These factors according to most of the respondents includes: make and model of machine, type of material used in construction and efficiency of the machines. It was also found out that the most common machine and power unit sold in the study area were harrow (23%), ridgers (23%), plough (18%) and planters (18%).