Socio-economic Factors Influencing the Output of Small-Scale Maize Farmers in Abuja, Nigeria (original) (raw)

2012

Abstract

Nigeria is one of the developing countries facing shortages of cereal crops like maize. Based on this, research on the socio-economic factors influencing small-scale maize farmersu output was conducted in Abuja. A multi-stage sampling technique and semi-structured questionnaire were used for data collection. A total of 160 maize farmers were interviewed in four agricultural zones (40 from each zone). Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics. The results showed that the land area cultivated, land rent, quantity of fertilizer applied, years of farming experience and household size were the major socioeconomic factors that significantly (p < .05) influenced maize output. The R 2 value of 0.31 (adjusted R 2 = 0.26) indicated that the variables accounted for 31 percent of the variation in maize output. The mean outputs of maize per hectare and per farmer were 316.73 kg and 614.56 kg, respectively. Socio-economic results showed that the mean age ...

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