Profitability of sweet potato production in derived savannah zone of Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined profitability of sweet potato production in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. The study was based on primary data collected from 82 sweet potato farmers through multistage sampling technique; analysed using descriptive statistics and budgetary techniques. The result revealed that about 90% of the farmers were male with a mean age of 35 years and 22 years of sweet potato farming experience; 87.8% were married and 65% had a household size of 8 persons. About 82% had no formal education, 96% sourced sweet potato vine from previous harvest, 96% acquired land through leasehold while only 13.4% does not belonged to any farmers’ cooperative society. Furthermore, 96.3% and 98.8% of the farmers used less than 100kg inorganic and organic fertilizer respectively while 96.3% and 73.1% of the farmers used less than 2litres insecticide and herbicide respectively. Major production constraints were insufficient land (66%), insufficient labour (51%), pest and diseases (82%) as well as mechanization (98%). Budgetary analysis revealed that, on the average, sampled respondents incurred NG₦41,374.59 on total cost items, earned a revenue of NG₦131,645 and profit of NG₦90,270.41 per production season. Sweet potato production had a rate of return on investment of 2.88. Thus, sweet potato production was found to be a profitable enterprise considering the profit realized by farmers in the study area. The study recommended that constraints identified be tackled to enhance greater output. Policies should be implemented by government to provide assistance to farmers in order to expand and access adequate farm resources.

Keywords: potato, producers, profitability, resources, constraints