Costs and Returns Analysis of Maize Production in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to estimate costs and returns associated with maize production in Lere local government area of Kaduna state. Data were collected from a sample of 100 maize farmers selected through multi-stage sampling procedure using questionnaire and data collected were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and net farm income analysis. The result showed that 82% were in their working age of between 21-50 years, majority of the farmers 53% were married, 91% had formal education, in terms of farming experience, majority (68%) of the respondent had farming experience that is above one year. The result revealed that maize farming is profitable investment in the study area with a total return of N 194,545.00 and net farm income of N 81,275.00 per hectare with a benefit cost ratio of 1.72 and a return on capital invested of 0.42. All the farmers identified maize as an important source of food to households in the study area. However maize farming is facing several constraints such as lack of capital (73%), high cost of farm inputs (69%), lack of credit facilities (67%), inadequate storage facilities (53%), inadequate processing facilities (50%), incidence of pests and diseases infestation (46%), poor road network (40%) and poor extension services (33%). Therefore, it is recommended that credit facilities    should be provided so that farmers can have fund to purchase farm inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides and be able to employ adequate labour, storage and processing facilities such as silo and shelling machine should be made available to farmers at subsidized and affordable price as a form of government intervention, adequate workshops and seminars especially on training farmers on  methods of weed and pests control should be organized by extension agents and farmers should  be encouraged to form themselves into cooperative groups so that they can pool their resources together in getting adequate funds to finance maize production activities.