TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AND PROFITABILITY OF ORANGE FLESHED SWEET POTATO PRODUCTION (OFSP) WITHIN THE BENIN REPUBLIC

This research work examined technical efficiency and profitability of orange fleshed sweet potato production (OFSP) and within Benin Republic. The data was analyzed using the following analytical tools: Likert type scale, budgetary technique, stochastic frontier production function, and descriptive statistics. Finding showed that due to the demanding tasks involved in producing OFSP, 94.55% of the respondents were married men, suggesting that men made up the majority of respondents. The study area's average respondent age was 42.1 years, suggesting that the majority of OFSP farmers were youthful, agile, and in productive age. This could potentially increase the productivity of OFSP in the area. The average size of an OFSP farm was 0.66 hectares, indicating the extent to which OFSP production in the study area is subsistence level. The gross margin was 226610.19 CFA and the total revenue was 424515 CFA. These figures demonstrate how profitable OFSP production was in the survey region. The average cost per kilogram indicated that 1631.67CFA, or 0.8% of the total cost, was needed to produce 1 bag of OFSP, while the average revenue per bag indicated that selling 1 bag of the produced OFSP brought in 3500CFA. Given that the benefit cost ratio is greater than 1, the OFSP farmers stand to gain 2.15 CFA for every CFA invested. This is indicated by the benefit cost ratio of 2.15. As a result, the study area's OFSP production is profitable. Additionally, the results of the stochastic frontier analysis showed that the amounts of fertilizer, vine/seed, and herbicide were significant at (1%), demonstrating the impact of these inputs on the output of OFSP farmers. The mean technical efficiency was 88%, indicating that the farmers' output was below the frontier. The modal technical efficiency was above 90%. This indicated that there is wider distribution of technical efficiencies in the production level in the study area, which revealed that there is a considerable room for effective improvements in the technical efficiency of the farmers in the study area. From the inefficiency model, farm size, gender, level of education and cropping pattern were negatively significant which have effect on technical inefficiency. Transportation problem (3.709), theft (3.555) Lack of Institutional support/adequate funding (3.455), pest and diseases (3.409) and natural disaster (3.091) are the major restraints faced by OFSP farmers in the study area. In conclusion, OFSP farmers need to improve their technical efficiency. Government or NGO should look into the problems facing the farmers in the study area.