Increasing Production Efficiency of Ginger for Poverty Alleviation in Kaduna State, Nigeria: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Abstract

The study analysed the technical efficiency of ginger production among farmers in Jema’s, North Central Nigeria. A multi-stage simple random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 100 farmers. Data generated were analysed using the stochastic frontier production function. The result shows that fertilizer, herbicides and labour were significant determinants of farm output. The result also shows that the maximum efficiency of the ginger farmers was 0.98 while minimum efficiency was 0.55 with mean efficiency of 0.77.The result of the inefficiency effects model showed that none of the variables has significant effect on the technical efficiency of the farmers. Thus, most of the technical inefficiency is accounted for by factors that are not captured in the model. Implications are that ginger enterprise should be made more attractive by the provision of modern farm technologies and farmers’ cooperative societies should be involved in the supply of production inputs to prospective farmers. Farmers should further be motivated through adequate markets for ginger to enhance their production and increased living standards.