Sustainable efficiencies in small scale cassava farmers in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study derived sustainable technical, economic and allocative efficiencies from a set of efficiencies generated from the maximum likelihood estimation of stochastic production and profit functions fitted with data collected from small scale cassava farmers. The study was conducted in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A three-stage sampling method was employed to select choose respondents’ to which structured questionnaire was administered to obtain the necessary information for the study. The result revealed an average sustainable technical efficiency of 81.60%, 30.40% for profit efficiency and 38.40% for allocative efficiency. Results further showed that farming experience, membership in social organization, years of formal education, farm capital and farm size were the positive determinants of sustainable technical efficiency while household size, number of female cultivating cassava, poor farming households and the use of organic manure were negative. In the same Vein, farming experience, education farm size, gender and the use of tillage technology were identified as positive determinants of sustainable economic or profit efficiency while household size and quantity of fertilizer use had negative impacts. Similarly, cassava farmers’ farm size, age, educational level, farming experience, gender and the use of tillage technology impacted positively on sustainable allocative efficiency while household size and the quantity of fertilizer have negative relationships. In order to achieve sustainability of small scale cassava farms, it is recommended that social capital formation should be intensified among cassava farmers. Also, adult education and family planning programmes for farmers should be fine-tuned in the state for effective delivery among others.

Keywords: Cassava, Technical efficiency, economic efficiency, allocative efficiency, sustainability.