Economic Impact Analysis of Value Chain Development Programme (Vcdp) on Productivity of Rice Farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluated economic impact analysis of value chain development programme on productivity of rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Primary data were used. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total sample size of two hundred and ninety-two (292) rice farmers which comprised of one hundred and fifty-five (155) value chain development program beneficiaries and one hundred and thirty-seven (137) non- beneficiaries. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, farm budgeting technique, total factor productivity index, Tobit dichotomous regression model, propensity score matching (PSM), principal component analysis, F-Chow test, and t-test. The results revealed that the 65.81% of the rice farmers who benefited from the value chain program were male. Also, 48.91% of the non-beneficiaries of VCDP were at sub-optimal productivity level, while 36.13% of the beneficiaries were at super-optimal productivity level. The result of the Tobit regression estimates shows that the significant factors influencing total factor productivity were: that household size (P< 0.10), farm experience (P< 0.10), access to credit (P< 0.05), labour input (P< 0.10), and farm size (P< 0.10). Rice production in the study area was profitable. The coefficient of Average Treatment Effect for all matching algorithms for yields of rice farmers such as nearest neighbor, radius, kernel, and stratification were significant at (P< 0.01). This shows that value chain development program impacted positively on productivity of rice farmers. Extension officers should be employed to train rice farmers. Governments should put policies in place that will help remove bottlenecks in accessing agricultural loans.