Enterprise Combinations in Cassava Based Food Crop Farming System in Nigeria: Evidence from Ogun State

Abstract

This study examines the enterprise combination in cassava based food crop farming system in Ogun state. Three stage sampling technique was used to select 120 cassava farmers from the study area. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, economic land equivalent ratio (ELER), linear programming and stochastic production frontier to actualize all the objectives. Descriptive statistics was employed for the description of socioeconomic characteristics while economic land equivalent ratio (ELER) and linear programming were used for cost-return structure and optimal combination of crops in cassava based farm enterprises respectively. Descriptive statistics shows that most of the farmers are in their late forty with the mean age of the farmers being 48.2 years with 6years of formal education and wealth of farming experience of about 19 years. The farmers cultivated area of land that varies between 0.5ha and 5 hectare with a mean of 2 hectare. All enterprise combinations are profitable; however, cassava/maize/vegetable production enterprise is the most profitable with net farm income of N36649.90 per hectare closely followed by cassava /maize with N36462.67 per hectare. The optimal cassava based combination was actualized by linear programming model which shows that cassava/maize and cassava/maize/vegetable are the optimal combination because only the two combinations contributed to the gross margin and also added zero opportunity cost to the total cost of production. The result also shows that land and capital are the limiting resources whereas labour is not which means that for optimal cassava based production land and capital investment should be increased. In lieu of these findings, farmers in Ogun state farmers should intercrop cassava, maize and vegetables or intercrop cassava and maize, this will not only increase their net farm income per hectare, it will also ensure flow of income during on and off seasons. Farmers should also increase the utilization of the limiting resources, that is capital base and hectrage of land cultivated.

Multifunctional Land Uses in Africa

“…The comparatively high-yield and economic returns are in line with other findings from Delta state, where the Land Equivalent Ratio for cassava with yam, maize and vegetables reached 1.94 and returned a higher income, compared to cassava monoculture (Chukwuji 2008). Similar multiple benefits were recorded by Oguru et al (2008) and Bamiro et al (2012). Interestingly, the results show that women-headed households consistently have smaller farms and lower net annual returns from cassava than men-headed farms, for all the cassava-based practices, even for the two practices for which women have higher yields (Figure 4.3).…”

“…Oyekanmi and Okeleye (2007) and by the author (unpublished) in 2011. Furthermore, all the cassava mixes rendered gross margins per hectare (for cassava tubers only) between US$197 and 419, which is significantly higher than the US$36 recorded in Lagos (Aminu and Okeowo 2016) and US$102 per hectare in Ogun State (Bamiro et al 2012). The comparatively high-yield and economic returns are in line with other findings from Delta state, where the Land Equivalent Ratio for cassava with yam, maize and vegetables reached 1.94 and returned a higher income, compared to cassava monoculture (Chukwuji 2008).…”

“…In terms of income generation in the rural parts of the central Niger Delta, cassava-based multiple-cropping systems were superior to monoculture (Ajayi 2014; Allison- Oguru et al 2006). Specifically, while the profit from monoculture cassava in the Niger Delta was about US$860 (NGN23,700) per hectare, the cassava multiple-cropping system (cassava, maize and vegetable) recorded a profit of US$1,330 (NGN36,650) per hectare, resulting in an economic Land Equivalent Ratio (see Figure 1.3 in Simelton, Ostwald and Osiru Chapter 1) of 1.59 (Bamiro et al 2012).…”

Gender Differentials and Optimal Combination of Crop Enterprises under Limited Resource Conditions in South Western Nigeria: A Case Study of Cocoa-based Farming Systems

“…Regrettably, the enterprise based combination decision among farmers within the cocoa-based farming system is often made by trial and error methods, the outcome of which is usually uncertain [17]. Farmers practice what has been handed down from generation to generation and there is no conscious investigation as to which enterprise would maximize the resources available.…”

Incorporating the Credit Constraint in a Linear Programming Model: A Case Study of a Rural Farmer in Zimbabwe

“…The gross margins were higher in the borrowed capital as compared to the limited capital situation. Bamiro et al (2012), in their study examined the enterprise combination in cassava based food farming system in Ogun state. The optimal cassava based combination was actualized by an LP model.…”