The economic farm-size–efficiency relationship for maize remains unclear. A question that has yet to be answered conclusively is whether farm size affects productivity. The debate on land-appropriation-without-compensation ultimately revolves around the optimal land size and conditions under which farmers can benefit from a more rational utilization of available land. As important as the farm-size–efficiency debate is, it has not received much attention since the launch of the land reform programme. Again, the farm sizes examined in the previous studies reflected large-scale commercial agriculture and were mainly in relation to wheat production rather than the dietary staple of maize. This paper applied parametric efficiency measures under alternative distributional assumptions to data generated from 267 maize-farming households, to understand the economic farm-size–efficiency relationships and their determinants. It emerged that, while farm size is a key determinant of economic efficiency in maize production, its effect on technical efficiency is still contested. Findings suggest that farmer support should be prioritized, and the government’s efforts to make farmers more productive should emphasize gender equity and optimal use of land.

Goal two of the Sustainable Development Goals stipulates that, individuals at all strata are food secure. This is a major social problem with far reaching economic and development consequences. Growing population has exacerbated the pressure on land base agriculture to supply energy requirements, and traditional agricultural practices have complicated the topical issue. Thus, efforts to simultaneously improve agricultural productivity and keep the system sustainable calls for appropriate sustainable agricultural practice such as conservation agriculture. This study investigates the links between CA adoption and household food security in Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty-one respondents in the study area were sampled. Multisampling technique was used to select the required sample and a questionnaire was administered. Descriptive statistics result revealed farmers’ and farm-based characteristics while food security index divulged the food security status of the respondents. The Double hurdle model was employed to investigate factors driving the adoption of CA and extent of adoption while two-stage least square (2SLS) estimated bi-causal links between CA adoption and food security status. The age of respondents, gender, education, access to credit, farm size cultivated and access to extension services contributed significantly to the adoption of CA and so to the extent of adoption. The two-stage least square confirms the exogeneity of CA adoption with food security status. By implication, the adoption of CA practices in Nigeria is a viable option to increase food production and by extension to attain sustainable food security status.