Vol. 11(2), pp. 27-36, September 2023
https://doi.org/10.14662/arjasr2023400
Copyright 2023
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
ISSN: 2360-7874
http://www.academicresearchjournals.org/ARJASR/Index.htm
 

Research paper

Estimating farm level technical efficiency and elasticity of production among small scale catfish farmers in Epe local government area, Lagos state, Nigeria

 

Adeleke, O.A., Fajobi, D.T.,Adeleke, H.M., and Akintola, R.O.

 

Department of Agricultural Economics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. P.M.B 4000, Ogbomoso, Oyo State E-mail: oaadeleke41@lautech.edu.ng. Tel. +234-803-267-8701

 

Accepted 22 September 2023

Abstract

This research work broadly estimated farm level technical efficiency and elasticity of production among small scale catfish farmers in Epe Local Government Areas of Lagos State, Nigeria. The study in its specific objectives described the socio-economic characteristics of the catfish farmers in the study area; and analysed the technical efficiency and elasticity of production of the catfish farmers in the study area. A total of 65 small scale catfish farmers were purposively selected for the study. The data collected with the aid of structured questionnaire were analysed using Descriptive Analysis and Inferential Statistics like the Stochastic Frontier Analysis. The mean age of the farmers in the study area was 44 years. Majority of the catfish farmers are married and were well educated. The catfish farmers in the study have a relative large household with an average household size of 7 persons. In the preferred model (model 2), the variables that significant influence catfish production in the study were feed quantity (at 1%), labour quantity (at 1%), fingerling quantity (at 1%) and pond size (at 1%) respectively. The estimated sigma square ( ) of the catfish farmers was 0.02515 and highly significant at 1% level of significance. The estimated gamma () parameter of the catfish farmers was 0.0061.The RTS for the catfish farmers was 1.147 in the study area. The catfish farmers are were experiencing increasing returns to scale and were operating in the irrational zone of production (stage 1). The catfish farmers were not fully technically efficient in the use of production resources. The predicted catfish farm specific technical efficiency (TE) for the catfish farmers’ indices ranged from a minimum of 71.62% to a maximum of 91.87% for the farms, with a mean of 82.15%. Family size was the only significant inefficiency variable with a positive coefficient, meaning it was positively related to inefficiency but negatively influence the technical efficiency of the catfish farmers in the study area. The policy implications and recommendations of this study based on the major findings include: the extension services should be directed towards training and teaching the farmers recent agricultural practices that are fish specific. The use of labour-saving device should be developed and farmers should be made to have access to such at affordable prices.

 

Key words: Technical Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Elasticity, Catfish Farmers, Return to Scale.

 

How to cite this article (APA Style): Adeleke, O.A., Fajobi, D.T., Adeleke, H.M., and Akintola, R.O.(2023). Estimating Farm Level Technical Efficiency and Elasticity of Production among Small Scale Catfish Farmers in Epe Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria. Acad. Res. J. Agri. Sci. Res. 11(2): 27-36