Abstract:

Yam is one of the most critical crops in Nigeria, mainly in Imo State, and contributes significantly to employment, income generation, and food security. However, despite Nigeria being the largest producer of yam globally with 43.1 million tones, the extent to which farmers derive income from its production remains a subject of debate. On the other hand, most empirical studies have focused mainly on the marketing utilization and adoption of improved yam technologies. It was against this backdrop that the study analyzed the economics of yam production in Imo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study described the socio-economic characteristics of yam farmers in the study area, ascertained yam varieties cultivated and the production systems practiced, estimated the cost and returns of yam production, and identified constraints faced by the yam farmers in the study area. The hypothesis of the study was that the socio-economic characteristics of the yam farmers do not significantly influence their profit. The sample size comprised seventy (70) yam farmers selected for critical yam-producing communities in Imo State. Structured questionnaire was the main tool for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools, gross income analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Results show that the mean age was 44.00 years. Greater proportions (78.00%) were male. The majority (66.00%) were married, with an average household size of 7 persons. The mean educational level and farming experience were 12 years and 23 years, respectively. Average farm size and annual farm income were 1.38 ha and ₦405,000.00 ($270.23) respectively. Reasonable proportions (75.71%) were members of cooperative societies. The result shows that 2,000 tonnes of yam were produced from 1.30 ha of farmland. Positive net farm return and return per capita invested were ₦231,819.33 and ₦5.21, respectively. This is an indication that for every naira earned as revenue from the yam production enterprise, 5.21 kobo is returned to the farmer as net farm income. The estimated regression result showed that the F-ratio (41.812), which determines the overall significance of the regressor, was highly significant at the 1% level of probability. Important variables determining net income were age (X1), education (X3), household size (X4), farm income (X5), membership in a cooperative (X6), farming experience (X7), and farm size (X8), and they were all significant at the 1% level of probability. Finding further shows that farmers are deriving reasonable income from yam production in the area. However, yam farmers identified inadequate production capital (100.0%) and limited availability of farmland (97.14%) among others as the constraints that negatively affect their productivity and net farm return in the study area. It was therefore recommended that yam farmers, particularly on their own, should judiciously pool land resources together through a strengthened cooperative society group, as this would increase their farm size and enhance both output and area of land cultivated for increased sale and profit in the area. Moreover, effective agricultural policies and programs should focus on granting farmers improved access to farmland and farm credit, as these would enable them to increase their production frontier and sustain the realization of huge returns over time in the area.