ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF RICE PRODUCTION AMONG SMALLSCALE WOMEN FARMERS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, NIGERIA.

This study evaluated economic efficiency of rice production among smallscale women farmers in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 100 smallscale women rice farmers. Primary data were collected with the aid of well-designed and well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, farm budgeting technique, financial analysis, Stochastic production frontier efficiency model, and Tobit dichotomous regression model. The results show that 88% of women rice farmers were less than 50 years of age. The mean age was 44 years. Averagely, they are smallscale farmers with 1.31 hectares of farm land. The labour input in mandays constitutes the highest percentage of about 50.8% of total costs of activities involved in rice production. The net farm income and gross margin ratio was estimated at 416,800 Naira and 0.63 respectively. This shows that rice production by women farmers was profitable and worthwhile. The mean allocative, economic, technical efficiency scores were 50.3%, 50.8%, and 51.20% leaving the efficiency gaps of 49.7%, 49.2%, and 48.8% for improvement respectively. The significant factors influencing economic efficiency of rice production among women farmers include: - farm size (P < 0,01), labour input (P < 0.05), household size (P < 0.05), seed input (P < 0.01), fertilizer input (P < 0.05), chemical input (P < 0.05), farm experience (P < 0.05), and access to credit (P < 0.05). The major constraints encountered by women rice farmers include: - inadequate credit facilities (1^st), high cost of labour (2^nd), high cost of fertilizers (3^rd) and high cost of herbicides (4^th). The study recommended that farm inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizer input, chemical input and herbcides should be made available to women farmers at affordable prices. Credit facilities devoid of rigorous administrative procedures at low interest rate should be made available to women farmers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]