Costs and Returns Analysis of Sesame Production in Northern Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined costs and returns in sesame production in Northern Agricultural Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria during the 2020 cropping season. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 140 respondents using purposive and random selection. A well-structured questionnaire was the main tool for data collection. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, gross margin analysis was used to determine gross returns per hectare of sesame production. Results showed that males were dominant (61.4%) in sesame production in the area and some (39.3%) were between 41-50 years. Majority of the farmers (75.5%) were married, 50.7% had no formal education while 42.9% had farming experience of 6-10 years. Also, the results found that majority (94.3%) sourced their farm capital from personal savings. The study revealed that a total of 116.7 hectares were put under sesame production in the 2020 cropping season by the respondents representing 2.5% of the total land area of the three Local Government Areas of the State. Constraints on sesame production were found to include lack of credit facility, high cost of labour, low yielding varieties, and high cost of planting seeds.