Resource Productivity of Rice Farmers Under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) Programme in Niger state, Nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluated the resource productivity of rice farmers under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) programme in Niger State, Nigeria. Primary data were used for the study and collected from three Local Governments Areas of the State from a total of 194 rice farmers consisting of both beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers of the ATA programme. Data collected were analyzed using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) methods. The results of the PSM technique to determine the impact of the programme on the productivity of the rice farmers shows that from all matching procedures, the programme had a positive and significant effect on total productivity, fertilizer productivity, seed productivity, land productivity, labour productivity, agrochemical productivity of the farmers and these variables were higher for the beneficiary farmers than that of the non-beneficiaries by at least 0.81 %, 3.9 %, 11.03 %, 4.96 %, 1.22 %, 4.79 % respectively. The study recommends that since the programme showed significant increases in the productivity of the beneficiaries when compared with the non-beneficiaries, government policies, investments, and efforts aimed at the sustainability of the programme should be encouraged and made to be able to stimulate further increases in the growth and productivity of farmers, particularly in rice subsector.

Publication
Journal of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology 12(1):35-63
Agricultural productivity Total Factor Productivity Propensity Score Matching Agricultural Transformation Agenda
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