ANALYSIS OF TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCY IN FOOD CROP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AMONG SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN SOME SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Efficient allocation of resources has been a problem in small holder farm economy in Nigeria. The study examined the technical inefficiency in food crop production systems among small-scale farmers in selected Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Specifically, the socio - economic characteristics of food crop farmers in the study area were described , the va rious cropping patterns of the farmers were identified and technical inefficiency of the farmers analysed. Data were collected from 360 randomly selected food crop farmers in eight local government areas spread across the four ADP zones of the State using structured questionnaires. The analytical tools were descriptive statistics involving the use of frequency tables and inferential statistics involving the use of stochastic frontier production function. The result revealed that married female farmers constituted majority (57.22%) of the respondents. Their literacy level was high, as 84% of them had some form of formal education. The respondents cultivate d an average of about two hectares of farm land using personal savings. Eleven cropping systems were identified with mixed cropping accounting for about 53% of the cropping systems and about 54% of the total hectarage allocations. The maximum likelihood estimates of the stochastic frontier production function revealed that farm size, family labour, agrochemicals, inorganic fertilizers and seed contributed significantly to food crop output. The technical efficiency (TE) scores ranged from 0.26-0.96 with a mean TE of 0.66, implying that there is a scope for increasing technical efficiency in food crop production by 34% in the short-run under the current technology. Education, extension contact, crop diversification and credit availability were found to de crease technical in efficiency of the farmers. The study recommended farmers education on fundamental farm management skills to enable farmers plan, evaluate and appraise their farm business activities among others.