Increasing Agricultural Productivity Through Rural Infrastructure: Evidence From Oyo and Osun States, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined access to infrastructure and its effects on agricultural productivity in Surulere and Ife East Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Oyo and Osun States. Using multistage sampling procedure, data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires administered on one hundred and sixty respondents from the study areas. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and total factor productivity model to explain the effects of the available infrastructure on the farmers’ productivity. The findings on socio-economic characteristics of the respondents revealed that 92.9 and 86.3 percent of the respondents were male for Surulere and Ife East LGAs respectively. Above 56 and 35 percent of the respondents were in the age range of 41-50 years and have household sizes that were between 6 and 8 respectively in both LGAs. Majority of the respondents had formal education and took farming as primary occupation. The total factor productivity model used revealed that farm size and labour were positive and significantly affected productivity at 5% and 1% levels of probability respectively. It was however observed that the contribution of female labour in Ife East LGA was higher than that of male, thus introducing gender productivity differential into the production process. With regards to the infrastructural elements, improvement in soil practices and extension visits had positive significant effects on productivity and were statistically significant at 5 % level of probability in both LGAs. It is recommended that more infrastructure be provided to further improve the agricultural productivity of the rural farmers.

Key words: Agricultural productivity, Rural infrastructure, Rural farmers