Effect of Poverty on Production Efficiency of Vegetable Farming Households in Ogun State, Nigeria

In most Nigerian households, vegetables are consumed as a source of minerals and vitamins and in some case as substitutes to the more expensive animal protein. In spite of these economic potentials, in the Nigerian economy, most Vegetable Farming Households (VFH) are small scale producers. This study therefore examined the effect of resource use efficiency on poverty profile of VFHs in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were obtained from randomly selected 160 VFH using a pre-tested questionnaire. The data were analysed by the use of Descriptive Statistics, Foster-Greer-Thobecke (FGT) index and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Results revealed that majority (76.3%) of VFH heads were male, 74.4% had formal education, 89.4% were married and 36.9% were artisans. The average age of the VFH heads was 47 years and the mean monthly income was ₦20,200.00. FGT index estimate gave poverty incidence as 0.26 while poverty depth and severity were 0.37 and 0.009 respectively. The mean technical, allocative and economic efficiency of vegetable farming households were 62.3%, 68.9% and 43.2% respectively. SFA revealed that farm size, labour and fertilizer increased output (p<0.05) while (land) rent (p<0.05), fertilizer and agrochemical prices (p<0.01) as well as wages (p<0.01) increased costs in vegetable production. Furthermore; age, education, household size and poverty status (p<0.01) as well as farming experience, sex and household size (p<0.05) were the factors that reduced efficiency of VFHs. The implication from the findings of this study is that poverty reduction among the farming households led to reduction in farm efficiency. Therefore, apart from providing efficiency enhancing factors to farmers, stakeholders should (as a priority) implement a re-orientation programme that will make VFHs regard vegetable farming as a (business) investment in the study area.