Assessing resource productivity of groundnut production in Nigeria using living standards measurement study data

This study examined the resource productivity of groundnut production in Nigeria, focusing on the efficiency of key inputs including seed, pesticide, and labour. Using a sample of 1868 groundnut farmers from the Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data, allocative efficiency (AE) ratio, stochastic frontier production function and tobit analysis were adopted to achieve the overall objective of the study. The analysis revealed significant underutilisation of all the inputs with AE scores of 4.10, 73.15 and 3.04 for seed, pesticide and labour respectively. The mean technical efficiency among the farmers was 34%, with the lowest score of 18%. The majority (68%) of the farmers operated within the technical efficiency range of 40% to 60%, while only 6% of them achieved scores above 60%. This indicates that there is substantial room for improvement in resource use and output maximisation. Further analysis identified a number of factors that influenced technical efficiency levels of the farmers. These include access to relevant agricultural information, gender of the household head, access to insurance services, receipt of cash remittances, and access to credit facilities. The findingsunderscore the need for targeted policy interventions that enhance farmers’ access to productive resources and support services to improve the overall efficiency of groundnut production in Nigeria.