ABSTRACT

This study examined the economics of early maturing maize varieties in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State, Nigeria. Using random sampling techniques,300 maize farmers were selected randomly across 10 communities in the Local Government. Data obtained were analyzed using Descriptive statistics, Adoption Index, Probit & Tobit Regression Models, Food security line, Double Difference Method and ZStatistics to estimate impact of early maturing maize varieties on income of farmers. The study divided the respondents into 137 adopters and 163 non adopters. The major findings showed that 88% of respondents were male headed, average age of household head was 44 years, average household size was 11 persons, dependency ratio was 1.49, level of education was Islamic education, average years of schooling was 5 years and average years of farming was 25 years. About 65% of farmers had access to extension agent, only about 10% had access to credit and labour force was mostly family labour. The level of awareness between adopters and non-adopters was 100% and 81.6% respectively. A larger proportion of farming households adopted 99EVDTWSTR (SAMMAZ 27) with an adoption rate of 28.67%. Results of probit model showed that farmers' size of land for maize cultivation (1%), farmers' participation in an association (1%), number of extension contacts (10%), age of farmer (5%) and income from sales of maize (1%) influenced the adoption of early maturing maize varieties. The result of Tobit model revealed that some socio-economic factors, such as farm size, labour force, number of extension contact and yield were significant in influencing the intensity of adoption of early maturing maize varieties by farmers in the study area. The average levels of technical, allocative and economic efficiencies in maize production were 0.881, 0.592 and 0.737 respectively. The socioeconomic factors that significantly influenced technical inefficiency were age of farmer, years of farming, extension contact, membership of cooperatives, and amount of credit; those that influenced allocative inefficiency were household size and amount of credit; and those that influenced economic inefficiency were amount of credit and extension contact. Based on the recommended daily calorie intake of 2260 kcal, 60.6% of adopters were food secure and 39.4% were food insecure. About 31.3% of the non-adopters were food secure and 68.7% were food insecure. Further, the calorie in-take for solely maize was 1874.2Kcal (43.14%) and 448.9Kcal (29.9%) for food secure and food insecure adopters respectively. As for the non-adopters, the daily calorie intake for maize consumption was 1079Kcal (31.9%) and 268.4 Kcal (27.3%) respectively. The mean difference analysis of the impact on adoption of early maturing maize varieties on income status between adopters and non-adopters of early maturing maize varieties shows that there is a positive mean income of N42,689.19. The result of the T-test showed that there was significant difference at 1% level of significance between adopters and non-adopters in relation to income level. Some of the constraints observed were lack of fertilizers, seed and credit. Research institutes, seed companies and/or seed producers should provide improved seeds and made available to the maize farmers timely and at affordable price. The government should subsidize farm inputs like fertilizers and provide agricultural loan to allow farmers to have access to these inputs and credit. Policy which provides adequately trained and equipped extension workers to disseminate improved agricultural technology has the potential to raise the efficiency in food crop production and income of farmers.