Determinants of resource-use efficiency in fishery production in Oyo State

Abstract

Do farmers operate at the maximum level of efficiency in fish production? This study was carried out to examine the  determinants of technical efficiency in fish production in Ibadan, Oyo state. Purposeful and simple random sampling  techniques were used in selecting seventy-nine farmers to elicit information on resource-use and socio-economic  variables. The production function and regression models were used to analyse the data. The result showed that  farmers between 41 and 50 years had the highest average technical efficiency (0.66), technical efficiency of women fish  farmers were higher than that of male, 94% of the farmers had tertiary education and 70% of the farmers used hired  labour. Pond size (p≤0.05), feed (p≤0.01), family labour (p≤0.01) and farming experience (p≤0.05) significantly increased  technical efficiency, respectively. However, hired labour reduced the output (p≤0.05). Also, farming experience (X3),  Education (D1), Access to credit (D3), all had direct relationship with economic efficiency. The t-ratio showed that only  education (D1) is significant at 0.01 percent, while age (X1), Household size (X2 ), and Sex (D2 ) are not significant. Furthermore, farming experience (X3), education (D1) and access to credit (D3) all had direct relationship with the  technical efficiency. It is therefore recommended that Government at all levels should educate and give access to credit  to encourage more young females and active unemployed youths to develop interest in fish farming.