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Mar 30, 2024Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Determinants of Yield Gap in Maize Production in Some Rural Communities of North West Nigeria
Abstract
The study analyzed the yield gap and its determinants in maize production in northwestern Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect primary data using a well-structured questionnaire from 100 maize farmers in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The result from descriptive statistics shows that the maize farmers had a mean age of 45 years, and were mostly males (89.0%). The maize farmers use an average of 63.1kg/ha of Urea and 65.1kg/ha of NPK. The mean quantity of herbicides and labour used by the farmers are 0.8litres and 20 man-hours respectively per hectare. The yield gap in Maize production ranges from 100-800kg/ha with a mean of 499kg/ha translating to about N42,500/ha loss of revenue. The socio-economic determinants of the yield gap are; labour, income from maize production, commercialization index and seed varieties were significant at (p<0.005) while only NPK fertilizer was significant at (P<0.10). The major constraints faced by the maize farmers are inadequate access to high-quality seed and inadequate fertilizer. The study recommended the provision of draught-resistant and high-yielding seed varieties of maize to bridge the yield gap.
