Evaluation of resource-use efficiency among rice farmers in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

This study evaluated resources–use efficiency among rice farmers in Katcha Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to; describe socio-economic characteristics of the rice farmers, determine the production inputs influencing rice output, resource–use efficiency in rice production and identify constraints associated with rice production. Two-stage sampling procedure was used for selection of 88 rice farmers on which questionnaire was administered. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression model and resource – use efficiency ratio. Results of the analysis revealed that 76.2% of the respondents were males, while 93.2% were married. The mean age, farming experience and household size of the respondents was 46 years, 23 years and 11 people, respectively. The multiple regression analysis result showed that double-log with R2 value of 0.9571 was chosen as lead equation and farmland (4.83, p<0.01), labour (2.34, p<0.05), seeds (4.04, p<0.01) and fertilizer (3.46, p<0.01) had positive coefficients and statistically significant. The efficiency ratio of resources-use in rice production showed that farm size (15.71) was under-utilized, while labour (0.001), seeds (0.554) and fertilizer (0.056) were over-utilized. Major constraints of rice production identified were inadequate training on resources usage (94.3%), followed by problem of pest and diseases (84.1%) and problem of storage facilities (81.8%). These problems ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. In conclusion, the production inputs were not efficiently utilized by the rice farmers. It was therefore recommended that, extension agents should educate farmers about relevant farm management skills in order to optimally utilize resources in rice production. Keywords: Resource-use efficiency, Rice farmers, Inputs, Productio