The Effect of Farm Accessibility and Market Proximity on Farmer Efficiency in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The effect of farm accessibility and market proximity on the farmer’s food production capacity remains unclear. The main concern is how farmers' productive ability is influenced by market-farms accessibility and proximity. Optimal food production is contingent on the ease of accessibility to purchase farming inputs and an enabling environment for farmers to maximize their benefits. As important as the accessibility vis-à-vis facilitating farmers’ movement from farm to market in the agricultural production process, the required attention is lacking in the scheme to reposition agriculture and promote food self-sufficiency. Previous studies examined the market location outside the present study area and they did not examine farmers’ technical efficiency and its determinant. This paper used remote sensing and GIS technique and a parametric model to first examine the location pattern of the agricultural input market and estimated farmers’ technical efficiency and its determinants. The Nearest Neighbor Index (NNI) of 2.15 and a z score of 5.41 revealed a proximity differential in the location of agricultural input markets indicating that the markets are dispersed and not equidistant from the farmlands. In addition, the efficiency estimation did not return labour as a significant variable, however, herbicide, fertilizer, and the size of farmland cultivated were significant in reducing farmers' inefficiency. It emerged age and access to credit significantly reduced the inefficiency of the farmer's production process. The outcome of the study suggests more use of GIS and RS to solve agricultural challenges; improving accessibility by tarring more roads; intensely training farmers before loan disbursement and paying attention to variables promoting inefficiency among farmers to ensure the optimal deployment/allocation of their resources to achieve optimal production and efficiency in the study area.