Analysis of cost efficiency in small scale irrigated tomato production: empirical evidence from Niger state, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated analysis of cost efficiency in small scale irrigated tomato production: empirical evidence from Niger State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were obtained using structured questionnaires administered to 100 randomly selected irrigated tomato farmers from Kontagora and Wushishi Local Government Areas of the state. Stochastic frontier cost function was used to represent the cost frontier of the small scale irrigated tomato farms. The result showed that there was relative presence of economies of scale among the farmers meaning that average farm in the study area produced at a minimum cost considering the size of the farm indicating that they operated in stage II of production surface. The mean cost efficiency of 1.09 obtained from the analysis showed that an average farm in the study area was 9% above the cost frontier, indicating that they were relatively efficient in allocating their scarce resources