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Papers by sylvester ojo

ABSTRACT This study examined the productivity potential and technical efficiency (TE) of the taun... more ABSTRACT This study examined the productivity potential and technical efficiency (TE) of the taungya farming system as one of the agro-forestry-based technologies practiced in Ondo State Nigeria, in ensuring food security without land limitation. Cross-sectional data collected from 200 farmers in 2005 using a multi-stage sampling technique was analyzed using stochastic frontier production (SFP) function technique. About 75% of the variations in output from the frontier are attributed to differences in the farmer&#39;s technical efficiency, while the relative contribution of inefficiency to total variance equalled about 64%. The resource productivity revealed that farm size and number of trees, labour and operating expenses are significantly associated with changes in the output of the respondents. The return-to-scale (RTS) of 1.045, which was not significantly different from unity, indicated a constant value among the farmers. This reaffirmed the assumption that the selected Cobb-Douglas form assumed a constant return to scale. The TE of the farmers varied between 0.168 and 0.974 with a mean TE of 0.81. Results showed that the wide range of TE indices among the respondents point to the fact that there is considerable room for improvement. In particular, the size of the mean TE showed that the maize-yam crop production under Taungya farming could be increased by 19% through better use of available resources in the studied area.

International Journal of Economics and Business Administration, 2021

Purpose: The study focused mainly on broiler production's determinants in the out-growers scheme ... more Purpose: The study focused mainly on broiler production's determinants in the out-growers scheme in Southwest Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to examine the socioeconomic characteristics of the participating farmers, examine the determinants of the costs and benefits analysis of broiler production in the out-grower scheme, examine the determinants of profitability, and determine the constraints inhibiting broiler production in the study areas. Design/Methodology/Approach: A sample size of 90 broiler poultry farmers were randomly selected using a structured questionnaire, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution mean, and percentages were used to achieve some of the objectives, while production function analysis was used to analyze the determinants of profitability of broiler out-grower scheme in the study area. Findings: The result reveals that majority 66.7 percent of the respondents in the study area, were male, and 33.3% of the respondents were female. The mean age was 43.3 years. Most of the respondents (94.4%) were married, while few were single (5.6%). The finding also revealed that the majority (80%) of the respondents had tertiary education. The mean household size is 5 persons. Farmers with experience of 10-20 years were the majority with 77.5%, while 13.7% of them had between 21-30 years of experience, while 7.7% had >10 years and 1.1% had >30 years broiler farming experience. Practical Implications: This study also revealed that 63.0% of the respondents had access to one credit facility or the other, while the rest, 37.0%, do not have access to any. Feed, drugs/ medication, and stock size significantly influenced broiler production in the out-growers scheme at 5% and 1% level of significance in the study area. Originality/Value: It is therefore recommended that funds should be made available to the farmers by providing micro-credits to the farmers because inadequate funding was the highest constraint identified by the farmers.

This study analysed the impact of food trade dynamics on regional integration and food security a... more This study analysed the impact of food trade dynamics on regional integration and food security among ECOWAS Member States. The study used secondary data covering a period of 43 years (1970 – 2012). Data used was sourced from FAOSTAT database. Analytical techniques employed include: Overall Openness Index (OPI); Intensity of Trade Index and Herfindahl index. The study revealed that smaller countries are more open to trade than the larger economies. The study concluded that regional intensity of trade (RIT) rose after the region became a free trade area (FTA), food trade diversification increased, while food insecurity significantly reduced in the region after the regional trade treaty. The study recommended that the region should speed up actions to implement all necessary measures needed to make the custom union fully operational as envisaged by the ECOWAS commission, to further boost trade and reduce food insecurity in the region.

Journal of Central European Agriculture, 2006

This study examined empirically production effi ciency of cassava farms in Osun state of Nigeria ... more This study examined empirically production effi ciency of cassava farms in Osun state of Nigeria using farm level data. The stochastic frontier production and cost function model was used to predict the farm level technical and economic effi ciencies respectively. The predicted technical effi ciency and economic effi ciency are the basis for estimating allocative effi ciency of the farms. Estimated results however, show that cassava farms in the study area exhibit decreasing positive return-to-scale giving the value of return to scale (RTS) of 0.840 obtained from the analysis, meaning that cassava farmers were effi cient in allocating their resources. Additionally, the analysis reveal that predicted effi ciency measure disaggregated into technical (TE), economic (EE) and allocative effi ciency (AE) with a view of examining not only TE but EE and AE when measuring productivity shows that mean TE, EE and AE of 0.903,0.89 and 0.807 were obtained from the analysis respectively meaning t...

Journal of Social Sciences, 2007

This paper examines the overall efficiency of small holder croppers in Nigeria with a view to exa... more This paper examines the overall efficiency of small holder croppers in Nigeria with a view to examine the productive efficiency of in food crop production in the country. Data were collected from 200 farmers' selected using multi-stage sampling technique and analysed using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production and cost function models. The return to scale (RTS) for the production function revealed that the farmers operated in the irrational zone (stage I) of the production surface having RTS of 1.113. The mean technical, allocative and economic efficiency of 0.733, 0.872 and 0.684 respectively were obtained from the data analysis, indicating that the sample farmers were relatively very efficient in allocating their limited resources with AE appears to be more significant than TE as a source of gains in EE. The result of the analysis indicate that presence of technical inefficiency and allocative inefficiency had effects in the food crop production as depicted by the significant estimated gamma coefficient of each model, the generalized likelihood ratio test and the predicted technical and allocative efficiencies within the farmers.

The National Program for Food Security (NPFS) is designed to contribute to a sustainable improvem... more The National Program for Food Security (NPFS) is designed to contribute to a sustainable improvement in national food security. The main implementation strategy of the programme is to empower small farmer communities with a timely provision of credit, agricultural input, and technical support services to increase farmers’ output and income on a sustainable basis. The present study was designed to examine factors influencing a farmer’s participation in the NPFS as well as the resource productivity of farmers within and outside the NPFS activities in Nigeria. We employed an endogenous switching regression with a sample selection model on a total of 176 farmers (89 within and 87 outside) for the econometrics analysis. The empirical evidence from the Probit model indicates that variables such as education, age, extension, farm size and hired labour significantly increased the probability of a farmer’s participation in the NPFS. The estimates of the endogenous switching regression model ...

This study analysed land use change and its effect on arable crop production in South West, Niger... more This study analysed land use change and its effect on arable crop production in South West, Nigeria. Primary data used for this study were collected from 180 arable crop farmers in the study area. The analytical techniques that were used include descriptive statistics; multiple regression analysis and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). It was revealed that the average age of the arable crop farmers was about 5510.29. Majority of the respondents are males and are married, with an average household size of about 7 persons. The average farm size was 1.85ha, while the average years of farming experience was about 12 years. The study concluded that although agricultural purpose remained the predominant purpose of land use in the study area, the total land area previously allocated for agricultural purposes suffered the greatest reduction from all identified land use purposes in the study area. Scale of production, fulltime farming and farm income are the identified factors th...

Most efforts of Nigerian governments to fight unemployment and poverty among the educated youths ... more Most efforts of Nigerian governments to fight unemployment and poverty among the educated youths have not succeeded because most agricultural programmes initiated by past governments did not go down well with the youths due to drudgery, large capital outlay and low returns to resources associated with food crop and livestock production. But recently, some governments are empowering unemployed educated youths to go into fish farming for employment and income generation strategy, because fish farming is less tedious and requires less resources outlay and has high returns to resources used in its production. This paper examined how efficient fish farming can solve unemployment and poverty problems among educated youths in Nigeria. The data for the study were collected from 100 educated fish farmers selected using multistage sampling technique and were analysed using the profitability and stochastic frontier production and cost functions analyses. Results showed that fish farming was profitable and has less drudgery. The returns to labour and capital were high. The productivity analysis showed that allocation and utilization of resources in fish farming were in the economic efficient stage. The efficiency showed a significant level of inefficiency effects indicating more improvement could still be made in fish farming operations. Therefore efforts made to empower young school leavers go into fish farming would solve unemployment and poverty problems among educated youths and also alleviate nutritional deficiencies among the citizenry.

In Nigeria, land degradation in the form of erosion oriented, soil physical property deterioratio... more In Nigeria, land degradation in the form of erosion oriented, soil physical property deterioration, vegetation degradation and hydrological changes are remotely caused by man's inefficient usage of land and its resources. Other causes are inadequate on-farm conservation and shortened bush fallow with inadequate supply of farmyard manure. The consequences of the inefficient land usage are decrease in land productivity and production and the inability of the agricultural sector to produce adequate food to feed the ever growing population. To avert the dire consequences of land degradation, some sustainable land management practices (such as taungya farming) which allow the production of increased agricultural and forest products simultaneously on the same unit of land are being canvassed. Taungya farming is a system of raising forest plantation along with crop husbandry in which the clearing of the site, planting and tendering of the trees are done wholly or in part by the farmers...

International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 2020

Agriculture continues to dominate the economy, contributing about 42% of Gross Domestic Product (... more Agriculture continues to dominate the economy, contributing about 42% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for about 77% of employment (Agricultural Transformation Agenda, 2015). Agriculture is an essential sector for majority of the rural populations' livelihood in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. It has been the predominant activity for most rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) which offers a strong option for spurring growth, overcoming poverty, and enhancing food security (World Bank, 2008). The changing socioeconomic, political, environmental and climatic atmosphere in Nigeria and other developing countries such as, increased incidence of poverty, political instability, climate change and variability have continued to aggravate the living conditions of most households especially those living in the rural areas. The accompanying increase in food insecurity levels has led residents of these economies to devise a number of strategies such as income diversification and community self-help to cushion the negative effects of these changes. Diversification refers to the expansion of the range of rural activities outside the farm and is seen as a dynamic adaptation process created through pressures and opportunities (Ellis, 2000). The farm household expands its activities in order to increase farm income or to reduce income variability by exploiting new or existing market or non-market opportunities, including waged employment in the local nonfarm sector and the exploitation of natural resources (FAO and World Bank, 2001). According to Asogwa (2008), cashew is an emerging commodity crop whose cultivation cuts across the seven agro-ecologies in Nigeria. In each of the 27 cashew producing states in Nigeria the numerical strength of the farmers is increasing, while the crops hectarage is correspondingly on the increase. Cashew is a crop with wide ecological distribution within Nigeria. It is a tree crop of considerable economic importance to Nigeria and other tropical countries.

International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 2019

Energy is one of the most important items for human survival apart from air, water and food. It i... more Energy is one of the most important items for human survival apart from air, water and food. It is required for cooking, lighting, heating, boiling and other various domestic needs. Rural population largely depend on the traditional sources of energy in meeting their domestic energy demands while urban population depend essentially on charcoal and fossil fuels. However, high level of poverty and other socioeconomic problems constrains both rural and urban population from access to adequate, reliable and clean energy sources for domestic purposes (Momodu, 2013). Of all domestic fuels in Nigeria, fuelwood remains the commonest partly due to its accessibility, affordability, convenience, tradition and vegetative distribution as other sources namely domestic gas, wind energy, kerosene, solar energy and electricity are either uncommon, modern, costly, sophisticated or required high levels of education and technology to explore, exploit, refine, distribute, store, utilized and maintained (Akut, 2008). Demand for traditional fuel therefore places significant pressure on local forests and woodlands, contributing to deforestation, soil erosion and desertification. Oftentimes, the need for wood is so great that reforestation attempts of badly degraded regions prove impossible because even young trees are rapidly been harvested for cooking fuelwood or charcoal production. In the most severely affected regions, the poorest fuel sources, animal manures, grasses, crop residues, roots and shrubs are also harvested (FAO, 2013). In the developing countries, nearly 3 billion people rely on traditional cooking methods such as an open fire or basic cookstoves, using solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, crop residues and animal dung (GACC, 2011). An energy access assessment across many developing countries reveals that 600 million of this population live in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where access to modern fuels is as low as 17%, while 69% of the population rely on wood as their primary cooking fuel (UNDP/WHO, 2009). In the efforts by the industrialized economies to mitigate climate change, efforts are being made at reducing Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50% or more by 2050. Since CO2 is the most significant and prevalent greenhouse gas

Greener Journal of Social Sciences, 2016

The study determined the poverty profiles and technical efficiency of women entrepreneurs in cass... more The study determined the poverty profiles and technical efficiency of women entrepreneurs in cassava processing in Oyo State, Nigeria. Data were obtained from primary source using a set of structured questionnaire assisted with interview schedule. The multistage sampling technique was used. Data were analyzed using: descriptive statistics, Foster-Greer Thorbecke (FGT) and Stochastic Frontier Production Function Analysis (SFPF). Farm level survey data were collected from 105 women cassava processors. The results revealed that 64.8 percent of the women entrepreneurs in the study area were poor and would need 16.1 percent of 1US Dollar (N160) per day to escape poverty. It was also revealed that poverty incidence was noticed among women entrepreneurs between age ranges 40-49, most of them (61%) had a large household size with 4-6 members and (95.2%) had low educational level. Results further showed that cassava processing enterprise was in the stage of inefficient production (stage I) as shown by the Returns to Scale (RTS) of 1.264. The variables such as cost of raw material, operating expenses and energy were effectively allocated and used, as confirmed by each variable having estimated coefficient value between 0 and 1. The Technical Efficiencies of the women entrepreneurs varied between 0.637 and 0.994 with a mean of 0.888. The analysis of the inefficiency model revealed that poverty level, method of processing and source of raw material were positive indicating that all these factors led to decrease in technical efficiency of cassava processing enterprise in the study area. The study recommends that to increase the efficiency of the women cassava processors, policies that would promote poverty alleviation, improve education and boost income should be adopted.

Journal of Rural and Development, Jan 23, 2014

Fish is an important source of protein which is highly needed for human beings to experience nece... more Fish is an important source of protein which is highly needed for human beings to experience necessary growth and development. This is the reason for the phenomenal rise in the consumption of fish in order to meet up with the body nutritional requirements. Therefore, marketing of this source of protein is inevitable as its distribution depends largely on the structure of the marketing system. This study examined the structural performance of artisanal fish marketing in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data collected from 250 artisanal fish sellers selected using multistage sampling technique were analysed using descriptive statistics, marketing and gross margin, Gini coefficient and Lorenze curve analyses. The results showed that artisanal fish marketing was profitable with a mean net return of N137.10/kg ($0.85/kg). The estimated value of the Gini coefficient determined was 0.64, indicating the presence of inequality in the share of the artisanal fish market in the study area. It was realized that all the respondents in the study area, mentioned poor transport network, high transport cost, inadequate fund and inadequate storage facilities as major problems confronting artisanal fish market in the study area. Therefore, programmes that will improve fish marketing should be organized for fish marketers by the relevant government parastatals, extension workers, Non Governmental Organizations and the artisanal fish marketers should be sensitized on the formation of better organized fish marketing cooperative societies where they can solve some of their problems themselves.

Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Nigerian Journal of Technological Research, 2019

This study applied log input mean correction strategy and imposed linear homogeneity restriction ... more This study applied log input mean correction strategy and imposed linear homogeneity restriction in the estimation of efficiency among maize and cassava farmers in Southwest, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 310 respondents for the study. Data collected through well-structured questionnaire were analysed using Descriptive Statistics, Stochastic Frontier Translog Cost and Production Function. The results show direct relationships between the total cost of production with respect to maize output and input prices in the two enterprises. The input price elasticity estimates in the two enterprises support the assumption that the cost function is homogenous of degree one and that the cost minimizing factor prices is non-decreasing in P. Also, regularity condition of monotonicity is fulfilled as inputs increase output in the two enterprises. Therefore, maize and cassava farmers should be encouraged to expand their scale of operation which also allows them to benefit from economies of scale.Keywords: Efficiency, homogeneity, stochastic, crop, log-input.