Economic Analysis of Corchorus olitorius Production in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyzed the cost and returns of Corchorus olitorius L., vegetable production within three local government areas in Ebonyi State, which were Ezza South, Izzi and Ohaozara LGAs. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for data collection to select the respondents used for the study. A total number of 72 respondents were interviewed. The result revealed that the age range of 31 to 40 had the highest percentage with 34.7% suggesting that the farmers are  experienced and young in the study area, females 65.3% were major producers while majority of the respondents were married 41.7% and households with 6 to 10 persons 43.1% having the highest sizes. Education-wise, a few percentage possess tertiary qualifications 19.4%, and just 29.2% lack formal education, implying they`ve had a relatively high level of basic education. Approximately 37.5% have 6 to 11 years of farming experience. Profitability analysis revealed that the total revenue generated by the vegetable farmers in the study area was ₦48,240,000 with a net revenue of ₦15,476,000 and a gross margin of ₦23,760,000. The rate of return was 47.23% implying its production was profitable. For factors affecting vegetables production in the study area, most of the variables were all positive and significant with R² value of 0.820 implying that the model accounted for 82.0% of the variability in vegetable production. The major constraints faced by vegetable farmers were competition from other producers, lack of labor and invasion of farms by cattles.