Input-use Efficiency of Irrigation Farmers in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

This study estimated the technical and water-use efficiency of irrigation farmers in Southwest Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to interview one hundred and eighty-five irrigation farmers. Descriptive statistics, Data Envelopment Analysis Program (DEAP) and Tobit regression model were used to describe and analyze the determinants of inefficiency among irrigation farmers. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that there were more male farmers (82.2%) with a mean household size of 3.7. The mean area of irrigated land was 1.29ha. with about 84 percent of farmers cultivating on rented land. The average income from irrigation farming was N 38,650.27 per month. The sprinkler irrigation (Centre Pivot) was used by 85.4% of the farmers. The water fee for farmers was N 10,000 and the average cost of diesel for irrigating their farmland was estimated to be N 34,400 per production. The variation in input use and the output produced is considerably large. The DEAP results showed that on average, the farmers achieved only 79% Constant Return to Scale (CRS) technical efficiency, 85% Variable Return to Scale (VRS) technical efficiency and 22% water use efficiency. The Tobit regression results showed that farmers’ characteristics like age (0.008), household size (0.048), area of land irrigated (0.000), income (0.075) and drip irrigation method (0.041) were significant under CRS, whereas gender, education, experience, labour and sprinkler irrigation method were not significant. Under VRS model, significant variables includes age (0.032), gender (0.003), education (0.080), experience (0.059) and area of land irrigated (0.000), while gender (0.004), household size (0.086), education (0.027), experience (0.045), area of land irrigated (0.000) and labour (0.089) were significant for sub-vector VRS. It appears that farmers have little incentives to use water in an efficient way. In this sense, a public-private partnership could trigger better management of irrigation facilities and efficient water use among farmers.