PRODUCTIVITY RESPONSE OF AMARANTHUS CRUENTUS TO ORGANIC AND ORGANOMINERAL FERTILIZER APPLICATION IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

The study examined the economic analysis of organic and organomineral fertilizer on the productivity of Amaranthus cruentus in South-western States of Nigeria. Two hundred and forty respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, budgetary techniques and stochastic frontier production. The result shows leafy output/yield of Amaranthus cruentus ranging between 6.5kg and 170 kg for organomineral farmers and 20-210 kg for organic farmers. The farm size was small and ranged between 0.07-0.4 ha for organomineral and organic farmers with the mean size of 0.21 and 0.20 ha respectively. Also results obtained from various profitability ratios showed that organic amaranthus production is more profitable than organomineral amaranthus production. The technical efficiency score showed a mean score of 0.814 and 0.706 for organomineral and organic farmers and sources of inefficiency are education, experience and extension visit.