SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF PRODUCTIVITY AND INCOME OF RICE FARMERS IN UDENU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS, ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

The study sought to verify the major socio-economic determinants of farm income and rice productivity among rice farmers in the study area. A multi-stage stratified random sampling was used to select the respondents. Two major blocks of agricultural communities were delineated in the study area constituting of twelve (12) communities. Out of these, four (4) communities were randomly selected. Fifteen (15) rice farmers were then selected from each of them giving a sample size of sixty. Primary and secondary data were employed for this research. The primary data were collected using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression models with three functional forms were used to determine the production and income functions. Results showed that the influence of land and years of education on the farmers ’ rice output were statistically significant at 5 % level. Test for multicollinearity ruled out interaction between years of formal education and extension contact. Generally, it was proved that education and other socio-economic factors had significant effect on rice farmers ’ output as well as their incomes. Extension contact had no significant effect on the rice farmers ’ output in the study area. However, only two explanatory variables, labour and farming experience showed significant effects on farmers ’ incomes indicating high labour intensity among the farmers. Four recommendations, including the need for adult education plus improvement of the subsidy delivery system and mechanization; retraining of extension staff and development of rural infrastructure were made. Key Words: rice, farm income, farm productivity, farmer education and extension contact