Resource use efficiency among ginger farmers in Kaduna state, Nigeria

Abstract

Efficiency is a very important factor for productivity growth. In an economy where resources are scarce and opportunities to use new technologies are limited, resource use studies indicate the potential possibility to raise productivity by improving efficiency without necessarily developing new technologies or increasing the resource base. The resource use was estimated in order to identify the potential increase in production with minimum cost for farm inputs. The study determined the technical, allocative and economic efficiencies of ginger farmers in Kaduna State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 240 ginger farmers. Data were analyzed using the stochastic parametric technique. Findings show that technical efficiency indices range from 25.47 to 94.33%, with a mean of 64.98%; allocative efficiency varied from 10.28 to 98.72%, with a mean of 40.68%; and economic efficiency varied from 2.62 to 93.12%, with a mean of 26.43%. These widely varying indices of efficiency indicate great potential to achieve productivity growth through improved efficiency, using existing technologies and the available resource base in the study area. Analysis of the estimated coefficients indicated that age and education positively relate to technical efficiency while education and extension contact correlate with allocative efficiency positively. The results obtained show some increasing returns to scale in ginger production. Finally, the findings prove that further productivity gains linked to the improvement of efficiencies may still be realized in ginger production.

Keywords: efficiency, ginger, productivity growth, resource use, returns to scale, stochastic
production frontier