ANALYSIS OF LABOUR EFFICIENCY IN CROP PRODUCTION AMOUNG WOMEN IN MUBI NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ADAMAWA STATE

The study examined the labour efficiency in crop production among women in Mubi North Local Government Area of Adamawa State. A well structured questionnaire was used for data collection administered to 70randomly selected respondents from the selected districts and villages of Mubi North Local Government Area. The objectives are to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of women farmers in the study area; examine the labour input of women in household crop production in the area; identify the methods of crop production among the women farmers in the area; and identify the constraints encountered by women farmers in the area. The respondents were selected through a purposive random sampling procedure. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and efficiency measure. Results shows that majority of the respondents (58.58%) are between the ages of 20-39 years and were literate farmers. However women farmers used an average of 13.8 hours to produce an output worth of N61,188.08 in the same cropping season which was the most efficiently utilized. The problems encountered in the area during the cropping season were inadequate rainfall, pests and diseases, inadequate credit facilities, soil degradation, lack of storage facilities, among others. In conclusion, the women farmers were found to utilized labour efficiently than adult males and children farmers among numerous constraints. The following recommendations were made in view of the findings of the study; provision of soft loan/credit facilities; an urgent need for the government to provide measures for the control of pests and diseases as well as storage facilities; involving women in project formulation, planning, monitoring and implementation; and women farmers should be assisted to have unrestricted access to agricultural extension services.