Analysis of Resource Use Efficiency Requirement of Plantain Farmers in Bayelsa State for Sustained Food Production

Abstract

This study looked at the resource efficiency of plantain (<i>Musa spp.</i>) farmers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The study described the socio- economic characteristics of plantain farmers in detail, estimated the farmers' resource use efficiency, and calculated the returns to scale  of plantain production. Two hundred (200) plantain farmers were chosen using multistage, purposive, and random sampling techniques.  A structured questionnaire administered via personal interview was used to collect primary data. Descriptive statistics, the Cobb-Douglas  production function, and the ratio of marginal value product of the inputs to their marginal factor costs were used to determine  production elasticity and returns to scale. Resource utilisation efficiency was calculated from the marginal value product of the inputs'  marginal factor costs. According to the study's findings, the majority (71.5%) of plantain farmers were females, 79% had some level of  formal education, and 57.5% were between the ages of 14 and 37. The allocative efficiency result indicated farmers' inability to efficiently  use and allocate plantain suckers, labour, and chemical inputs used in the enterprise, resulting in a decreasing return to scale.