Improved Groundnut Production Efficiency among Smallholder Famers in Selected North – Western States of Nigeria

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is placed the fourth most important oil seed crop globally. Its oil content ranged between 48-50% depending on the varieties, 26-28% protein and 11-27 % carbohydrate, minerals and vitamin making it an important diet component of both rural and urban populace. This survey focused on the resource use efficiency among smallholder groundnut producers in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling techniques consisting of purposive and random sampling were used to select a total of 112 smallholder groundnut producers. Primary data used for the study were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire administered to selected groundnut producers through the assistance of field staff of the participating ADPs. Stochastic Production Frontier Model 4.1 was used for data analysis. The findings of the maximum likelihood estimate of technical efficiency revealed that, farm size and labour have a positive and significant effect on the groundnut output at 1% and seed at 10% significant level. The allocative efficiency results revealed that, costs of labour, farm yard manure, fertilizer and seed were found to be significant and positive at 1%, while pesticides at 10% level of probability. The inefficiency result showed years of formal education, farming experience and contact to extension agent were significant and negative. The value of gamma (γ) was reported to be less than 1 and statistically different from zero (p<0.01) indicating presence of inefficiency. It was recommended that, Regular training of farmers to enhance their level of knowledge on resources use efficiency on improved production practices would help increase their level of understanding on resource use efficiency. Finally these findings may be of help to the groundnut producers, policy makers, NGOs and other stakeholders.