Gender Analysis of Resource-use Efficiency among Sesame Farmers in Niger State

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing gender analysis of resource-use efficiency in sesame production in Niger State, Nigeria. A purposive and multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 76 male and 75 female sesame farmers and data collected through structured questionnaire were analyzed using frequency distribution, means, percentages, Cobb-Douglass production function and resource-use efficiency model. Results obtained shows that farmers in the study area were mostly in their productive age (40 years, averagely), married (55.7%) with formal education (86.1%) and household size of (6 persons, averagely). The efficient utilization of production inputs were influenced by Labour, fertilizers, seed and Agrochemicals with MVP to MPC ratios less than unity for land (0.15), and Agrochemicals (0.63), equal to unity for seed (1) and greater than unity for fertilizer application (1.15) and land (1.20). However, the cost and returns shows that sesame production in the study area is a profitable enterprise which shows that for every ₦1.00 invested ₦4.41/4.32 was earned along gender line. More so, sesame farmers were restricted by; Weed pressure in sesame farms, inadequate capital start-up, difficulty in managing pest and diseases, difficulty in accessing loans and high cost of farm inputs. which ranked among the top five (5) prominent constraint in the study area. The production resources in the study area were found not to be efficiently utilized since most of the production inputs were either over or under-utilized. Hence not to optimum economic advantage it is therefore recommended that for optimal use of resources in sesame production, quantities of fertilizer application should be increased while land, labour and Agrochemicals should be reduced.