Assessing Institutional characteristics, Factors influencing Profitability and Constraints of Millet Farming in Wukari Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study assessed institutional characteristics, factors influencing profitability and constraints of millet farming in Wukari Local Government area of Taraba State. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to select 120 respondents for the study. Results showed that family labour (42.5%) was the major source of labour among millet farmers and the mean cost of labour was N9,615.00. About 43.3% of farmers used the mixed farming system compared to mono-cropping (31.6%) and mixed cropping (25.1%). Majority (89.2%) of the millet farmers used fertilizer (both organic and inorganic) and 63.6% used less than 50kg of fertilizer. About 34.7% used agro-chemicals in their millet farms and the average cost of agro-chemicals purchased and quantity of agro-chemicals used was N 16,706.00 and 47.8kg respectively. Using multiple regression analysis to examine factors influencing profitability of millet farming, educational level, farming experience and age had positive significant coefficients, while household size and labour cost had negative significant coefficients. Using principal component analysis, constraints of millet farming were categorized into three main components: institutional factors, cost factors and economic factors. Results show that millet farming is profitable in the study area. The study recommended policies that will boost millet production and provide solutions to challenges militating against millet farming in the country.
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