This study analyzed the compound growth rate (CGR) and the contributions of yield and area to cassava production output in Nigeria. During the period, TE1970 – TE2018, production followed an upward trajectory from 9.3 million tonnes (1970) to 59.5 million tonnes (2018) while yield oscillated between 7.9tonnes/ha (TE2014) and 11.9tonnes/ha (TE2010). At this period, the CGR per year for yield declined (-0.2%), harvested area increased (10.9%) and production increased (10.6%). The decomposition analysis for the period revealed that, increase in output was largely due to expansion of harvested area (152%) while the interaction between area and yield effect declined production output by 45.8%. Regrettably, during the period, cassava yield also declined production output by 5.8%. The study also found that harvested area has the highest instability index (11.8). In order to further increase and sustain cassava production in Nigeria, intense planting of high yield cassava stems instead of solely expanding cropped area is recommended.

This paper presents empirical study of economies of scale and cost efficiency of small scale maize production in Ondo State of Nigeria, using farm level survey data collected from 200 farms in the study area. The results shows that there is a relative presence of economies of scale among the farmers meaning that an average farm in the sampled area produce at a minimum cost considering the size of the farm which is an indication that they operates in stage II of production surface (stage of efficient utilization of resource).This result was further collaborated by the mean cost efficiency of 1.161 obtained from the data analysis which shows that an average farm in the sample area is about 16% above the frontier cost, indicating that they are relatively efficient in allocating their scarce resources. The result of the analysis indicate that presence of cost inefficiency effects in the maize production as depicted by the significant estimated gamma coefficient of about 0.81 and the generalized likelihood ratio test result obtained from the data analysis.

This paper examines the determinants of technical and allocative efficiency of micro-enterprises in the Nigerian economy, using cross-sectional data collected on 180 micro-enterprises selected from block-making, metal fabricating and sawmilling enterprises. The Nigerian government has put in efforts at promoting productivity and efficiency in both the public and private sector of the economy. As a developing country, Nigeria has immense potential for better economic growth, both in the short and long run. It then becomes important to know the current level of efficiency within the sector. Quantitative estimates obtained from the stochastic frontier production function indicated a wide variation in technical and allocative efficiencies within and across occupational groups and across operational scale. The wide variation in the level of efficiency is an indication that there is ample opportunity for these enterprises to raise their level of efficiency. While the level of education of enterprise owners was found to be highly significant in affecting the level of efficiency of the micro-enterprises, the age of enterprise owners was found to be negatively related to their level of efficiency. These variables are important factors that government policy should address so as to improve the current level of efficiency in the sector.Re´sume´: La pre´sente e´tude examine les facteurs de´terminants de la capacite´technique et de l'allocation efficiente des ressources des 353 microentreprises dans l'e´conomie nige´riane, en utilisant des donne´es transversales recueillies aupre`s de 180 microenterprises se´lectionne´es parmi des entreprises spe´cialise´es dans le fac¸onnage du parpaing, des fabriques de produits me´talliques et des scieries. Le gouvernement nige´r-ian a de´ploye´des efforts conside´rables pour ame´liorer la productivite´et l'efficacite´des secteurs public et prive´de l'e´conomie. En tant que pays en de´veloppement, le Nigeria a d'e´normes potentialite´s d'ame´liorer sa croissance e´conomique a`long et a`court terme. Par conse´quent, il est de plus en plus important d'e´valuer le rendement actuel de son secteur e´conomi-que. L'estimation quantitative de la fonction stochastique «production de pointe» montre qu'il existe un e´cart important entre la capacite´technique et l'allocation efficiente des ressources tant au sein des groupes professionnels que d'un groupe a`l'autre ou d'une e´chelle des capacite´s ope´rationnelles a`l'autre. L'e´cart important entre le degre´d'efficience de ces entreprises est une indication qu'elles ont d'e´normes possibilite´s d'accroıˆtre leur efficacite´. Si le niveau d'e´ducation des chefs d'entreprise est cense´influer tre`s fortement sur le degre´d'efficience de leurs microenterprises, leur aˆge, par contre, est juge´incompatible avec leur degred 'efficacite´. Ces variables sont des facteurs importants dont l'action gouvernementale doit tenir compte pour ame´liorer le degre´actuel d'efficacite´du secteur e´conomique.

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Most households in rural Madagascar are engaged in agriculture and derive a large share of their income from the production of food or cash crops and from animal husbandry. However, agricultural yields can be extremely volatile due to weather conditions, pests, insects, rodents and other calamities. As a result, households record large fluctuations in their incomes that must be dealt with. Since the usual consumption-smoothing market mechanisms are quite limited in the Malagasy context, households need to rely on nonmarket mechanisms or to adopt multi-faceted strategies to cope with risk. In this paper, we examine the possibility that parents obtain informal income insurance by letting their children work. We test this hypothesis by examining the relationship between household income shocks and human capital investment in children. In particular, we investigate whether children's propensity to join school and to drop out of school responds to transient shocks. We also investigate issues such as gender and intrahousehold resource allocation.