Resource use Efficiency in Sweet Potato Production in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study estimated the resource use efficiency in sweet potato production in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State. The study was based on primary data collected from 82 sweet potato farmers through multistage sampling procedure; analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The result reveal that 90.2% male, with 21.7 years of sweet potato farming experience, 87.8% were married, 64.6% have a household size of 8 persons on average, 81.7% have no formal education, 96.4% acquired land through leasehold. Only 13.4% are members of farmers’ cooperative society. Multiple regression analysis show that the quantity of fertilizer used and the age of farmers were significantly related to quantity of output produced at (p<0.01) and (p<0.1) respectively. The coefficient of elasticity of Cobb Douglas function was 0.91. The efficiency estimates reveal that fertilizer was over utilized and should be reduced to ensure optimum production while vines, labour and farm size were sparingly used and these should be increased to ensure optimum production. Conclusively, sweet potato farmers in the study area were technically inefficient. It is recommended that farmers should utilize inputs, most especially fertilizer at optimum rate to bring about an increase in quantity of sweet potato produced.

Keywords: Sweet potato, Farmers, Resource use efficiency, Production, Utilization