Economics of cowpea production in selected local government area of Kwara State.

Abstract

Cowpea is a major and very important food in the Nigeria consumption patter. The study examines the economics of cowpea production in the study area. It reveals that respondents cultivated land ranging from 0.01 to 8.00 hectares. The average area under cowpea production was 0.98 hectares. 81.37 per cent of the farmers acquired their farm lands through family inheritance and gifts. Most of the farmers were not able to get tractor services which had a negative effect on cowpea production. Usage of local variety of seeds was more popular than improved seeds. Seed rate was found to be very high among the farmers, 65 per cent of the respondents used 30kg or more per hectare. Regression coefficients of land, labour and cost of variable input were significant at 5 per cent level and were positive for all input variables. The regression coefficient summed up to 0.8371 which implied that the farmers produced cowpea under diminishing return to scale. The marginal value produce (MVP) for land and labour, were N214.41 and N6.75 respectively. MVP of labour was lower than its average acquisition price in the study area, which shows that labour was used excessively and inefficiently.

Keywords: Cowpea Production, Economics.