Measurement of agricultural mechanization index and analysis of agricultural productivity of farm settlements in Southwest Nigeria

The levels of agricultural mechanization on some farms in two states in Southwest of Nigeria were measured and the productivity of each of the surveyed farms was analyzed. Factors that lead to profitability of farm activities and whole farms were deduced.  Structured questionnaire was used to establish the socio – economic characteristics, educational level, and technical knowhow of the farmers.  The inventory of the farm machinery was also established at each of the farm settlements visited.  Agricultural mechanization index was used to evaluate the level of agricultural mechanization while the level of productivity for each farm settlement was determined as an inverse of the work output of the explicit factors involved in production function (capital or machine and labour).  Profitability of activities was measured in terms of gross margin and of whole farms.  This was measured subjectively as net benefits of physical productivity (crop yield) and the returns from the resources used during production activities.  The results of the farm mechanization index revealed that the average level of mechanization in Ogun and Osun States was 31.3% and 28.6%, respectively and the average level of mechanization in the two States was 30.6% while the total productivity ranges between 0.0115 ha/kWh and 0.0951 ha/kWh.  The average physical productivity (crop yield) on maize ranges between 1.2 to 1.7 tons/ha and that of cassava was about 11.5 tons/ha in the two states.  The sustainability analysis of the schemes indicated that inconsistency in agricultural mechanization policy, lack of favorable conditions for full integration of agricultural mechanization, lack of essential infrastructure and financial credits among other variables explained the observed low spectrum in the scale of production.Keywords: agricultural mechanization, mechanization index, agricultural productivity, farm settlement, farm machinery, settlement, sustainability Citation: Olaoye, J. O., and A. O. Rotimi.  Measurement of agricultural mechanization index and analysis of agricultural productivity of farm settlements in Southwest Nigeria.  Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal. 2010, 12(1): 125-134.&nbsp