Abstract

The research was carried out to analyze the efficiency of yam production in Zing Local Government Area of Taraba State. Data were collected from 103 respondents using multistage sampling techniques, and analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, multiple regression and profitability analysis. Findings indicated that 95% of the respondents were males, 38.8% fall within 31 to 40years of age. 84.4% were married and about 72.8% have one formal educational level or the other. 53.4% operate only 1 to 2 hectares of farm land. The double log function with R² of 0.745 was the best fit. The study established that farm size, yam seed and fertilizer were positively related to yam output and significant at 1 and 5% levels respectively. The marginal analysis of input utilization revealed that farm size, yam seed and labour (family and hired) were rationally used but not at optimal levels. Therefore, more than 97, 66.55 and 36% increase in MVP respectively were required. Average gross income was found to be N241,800.00 with average total cost of N125,320.00 per hectare. Yam seed constituted the greatest share of the total cost representing 66.8% with an average cost of N85 per kg. Operating ration of 0.43 indicates moderate total revenue over total variable cost. RRI was 92.9% and profitability index of 48.2%. Issuing of micro soft loan at bearable interest rate, technical research and the provision of improved practices was therefore recommended.

Key word: Zing, economic analysis, yam, production, efficiency.