Productivity of Maize Farmers ’ in Surulere Local Government Area of Oyo State

Abstract

Abstract: Low productivity in Agriculture has been observed to be a problem militating against increased and sustainable farm income. The study therefore undertakes the analysis of maize farmers ’ productivity in Surulere local government area in Ogbomoso agricultural zone of Oyo State. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 30 maize farmers in the study area. The study used a stochastic frontier production model to estimate the efficiency of the farmers. Results revealed that farm size was statistically significant at 5 % level while Seed was positive and statistically significant at 1 percent level. The estimated gamma parameter (γ) of 0.56 in the study, indicates that 56 % of the total variation in maize output is due to the technical inefficiencies of the maize farmers in the study. The mean technical efficiency (χ) of the farmers was 0.669 while the return to scale (RTS) in maize farming was 2.302;It was therefore concluded that there is a positive and significant relationship between farm size, quality of seed used and maize output in the study.