Cost and Return Analysis of Ginger Production in the Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

The study focuses on the cost and return analysis of ginger production in the guinea savannah agro ecology of Nigeria. The study is aimed at highlighting the profitability of ginger production with a view to informing and influencing farmers and relevant stakeholders. The study was conducted at Kajuru, Kaduna state in the Guinea Savannah agro ecological zone of Nigeria, during the 2010 and 2011 planting seasons. The objectives of the study include: to estimate the cost and returns of ginger production, determine the returns cost ratio of cultivating one hectare of ginger in the study area. To achieve these, one hectare of farm land was planted out with the UG1variety of ginger, during 2010 and 2011 planting seasons. All agronomic practices were applied as recommended. Data were collected using the cost route approach on all the inputs used. Data analyses was carried out using the income statement to determine the gross return, total cost of production, profit and the returns cost ratio. The result shows that the total cost of cultivating a hectare of ginger in the area is ı677572.5, with a gross return of ı1,382,482. Also a returns cost ratio of 2.04:1 was obtained. This implies that ginger farming in the guinea savannah of Nigeria will attract 2.04 times the capital investment of the farmer. Among the various inputs, cost of labour (50.57%) and planting materials (30.38%) contributed higher to the total variable cost of production. It was therefore concluded that ginger production is a viable enterprise in the study area. The study recommended that ginger farmers should employ labour saving devices in their operations while some of them consider going into commercial seed ginger production using technologies developed by research Institutes.Key words: ginger, production, Nigeria, guinea, savanna