Ehien A.E, Bashir U, Makinta U1 and Mohammed A.M

Keywords: Economics, Rice Production, Hadejia-Jammare River Valley, Project

Abstract

The study was carried out in Auyo Local Government Area of Jigawa State, Nigeria to assess the economics of rice production under the Hadejia Jama’are river valley project. The specific objectives of the study were among others is to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area, assess the efficiency of input utilization in the study area, and determine the profitability of rice production in the area. Simple random sampling was used to select 120 respondents who were interviewed using structured questionnaire by trained enumerators. The analytical tools employed include descriptive statistics, multiple regression and net farm income. The results from socio-economic characteristics showed that majority (32.5%) of the respondents fall within the age range of 31-40 years with 75% of them married and having a family size ranging between 0-5 people. Results from the profitability analysis indicated that a total of N9,619,450 was realized as the profit from rice production in the study area. The multiple regression results showed 67.4% of the variation in the dependent variable (total yield) is explained by the independent variable included in the model. The results also revealed that farm size, labor and fertilizer used had negative and significant relationship with output. Results from resource use efficiency imply that the variables of interest were seed, fertilizer, hired and family labor. From the results, seed has Marginal Value Product (MVP) of N4098.4 and Marginal Factor cost (MFC) of N100 per kg which is less than MVP, thus a ratio greater than 1. Hired labour has MVP of N2245.7 and MFC of N86.43 which is less than MVP; this implies that seed and hired labor were underutilized in rice production. Pest and diseases was the major problem facing the farmers in the study area. The study concluded that rice production is highly profitable in the study area. It was recommended that such projects should be replicated in many parts of the state to boost and increase rice production.