Economic analysis of taungya farming in Uhunmwode Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the economic analysis of taungya farming in Uhunmwode Local Government Area, Edo State. Multi-stage random sampling design was used for to carry out the study. Data were obtained with the aid of 150 copies based on 30 and 40% sampling intensities on 34 farm centres and 980 taungya farmers respectively, developed well-structured questionnaire and administered to corresponding numbers of taungya farmers and analyzed with both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at p ≤ 0.05. The results showed that cassava (39.3%) was the most cultivated arable crop by taungya farmers ,with Gmelina Arborea at 50.7% as the most planted tree crop It was revealed that all the farm centres had positive gross margins, which indicated that taungya farming was profitable. The Highest gross margin of ₦54.650 was recorded at Aduhanhan while the least Gross margin of ₦ 20,520 was recorded at Ukpohi. The Highest revenue of ₦11,183,100 was generated to the government from timber concession in 2003 and land rate generated the highest revenue of ₦-990,000 in 2014. Essentially, taungya farmers and government depended on the system for incomes and revenues respectively, thus it is recommended that Government should improve on the sustainable management of the system in order to accommodate economic, biophysical and political considerations in the operation of the system.