Profitability of Small-Scale Oil Palm Seedlings Production in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

The study examined the profitability of small-scale oil palm seedling production in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 114 respondents for the study. Primary data were obtained with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, frequency distribution, percentages, gross margin analysis and F-value test. Results showed that majority (50.9%) of the respondents were males, while (49.1%) were females. The mean age (42 years) of respondents indicates that small-scale oil palm seedlings producers are in their productive age, while the result of household size was 8 persons. Result of educational level shows that the majority (40.0%) of the respondents attended tertiary institutions, (32.5%) attended secondary school, (12.3%) attended primary school while (12.3%) had no formal education. Result on constraints faced by oil palm seedling producers shows that (47.4%) of the oil palm seedling producers indicated insufficient access to improved varieties which is a very severe challenge encountered by oil palm seedling production in the study area. The results on the profitability of oil palm seedling production show that the average mean value of seed, top soil, fertilizer, labour, water, agrochemical, polythene, equipment, shade and others respectively stood at ?25.90, ?31.98, ?5502.66, ?29711.45, ?5526.84, ?287.54, ?20493.95, ?7865.83 and ?19842.8, while the total variable cost stood at ?106612, the mean total revenue stood at N254603.22 while the mean total gross margin stood at ?147990. The study concludes that oil palm seedling crop enterprise is profitable in the study area with positive values ?147, 990.74 of the mean gross margin in oil palm seedling production. It was recommended that government and NGOs should support farmers with inputs such as seed and fertilizers that will aid oil palm seedling farmers in their production, organize seminars and workshops with increased involvement of extension agents on oil palm seedling production to educate them while farmers should be encouraged to join cooperatives unions as this will help in accessing credit facilities for sustainable oil-palm seedlings production in agriculture.