EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR USE AMONG MAIZE FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN SHENDAM LGA., PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Increasing the production of crops such as maize requires increased labour productivity, expanded use of native technologies, and enhanced land utilisation are all necessary for increasing the production of crops like maize. The study focused on Efficiency of Labour Use among Maize Farming Households in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria. This study adopted Multistage sampling technique to randomly select 126 farming households. Primary data was obtained through structured questionnaire administration. Descriptive statistics and Stochastic Labour-use Requirement Frontier model was used for the analysis. The result revealed that 93% of the respondents were married, with a mean age of 44 years, 99% were literate and with mean farming experience of 19 years and with a mean farm size of 2 hectares. Of the 160.046 man-hours of labour utilized for maize production; 86.50% was contributed by family labour.. Labour-use stochastic frontier estimates indicate that maize output, agrochemical and farm size significantly affected labour usage while socio-economic determinants of labour use efficiency were labour wage, age, education, gender and farming experience. Furthermore, estimated efficiency mean value was 0.69, while 61% were in 0.61-0.80 efficiency range. It can be concluded that out of a total of 160.046 man-hours of labour utilized for maize production; 86.50% was contributed by family labour. Therefore, the study recommends: women be given more prominent role in maize production given their contribution to farm labour supply, Inputs such as agrochemicals be subsidized while barriers to farm land acquisition be removed through legislation and Technologies need be introduced to reduce human labour use, therefore increasing maize production and labour use efficiency.