Abstract:
The study was conducted in Bunkure Local Government
Area of Kano State to
appraise the efficiency of the resources used in ri
ce production under small scale irrigation.
The
specific objectives of the study were to determine
resource use efficiency, describe socio-economic
characteristics of irrigated rice growers and ident
ify constraints to irrigated rice production among
respondents. Data were collected using purposive si
mple random Sampling techniques involving
three villages and sixty rice farmers. The data was
analyzed using descriptive statistics and
production function analysis. Data were fitted to t
wo functional forms based on the OLS techniques.
The Cobb-Douglas (power function) production functi
on gave the best fit in terms of R
2
value and
number of significant variables. The results reveal
ed that 90.0% of the variation in dependent
variable is explained by the independent variables.
All the co-efficient carried positive signs. The
result revealed that fertilizer, labour and land we
re being used inefficiently hence below optimum
economic level. This was attested by the high ratio
s (greater than unity) of MVP/MFC of all the
variables. For optimum resource allocation to ferti
lizer, labour and land about 85.7%, 83.3% and
69% increase in MVP is required respectively.
The estimated elasticity of production summed up t
o
0.815 meaning decreasing return to scale. Major pro
blems include lack of adequate fertilizer, capital
and access to land. Agricultural Policies should be
directed toward provision of farming input such
as fertilizer and effective extension services for
efficient resources utilization.
