Economic Analysis of Maize Production in Ogori Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

The study assessed economic of maize production in Ogori/Magongo local government area of Kogi State. To this end, effort was made to examine the socio economic characteristics of the maize farmers, determine the resource use efficiency, problems as well as profitability of maize production in the area. To achieve the objectives of this study 48 maize farmers where randomly selected from 5 wards from the local government area, three wards from Ogori and two wards from Magongo. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin and multiple regression models. Results showed that 68.75% of farmers used hired labor, 93.75% personal savings and 70.83% used seed from previous harvest for their farm operations. Analysis revealed that farm size, fertilizer and seed were significant factors influencing output level. Estimated efficiency ratio (r) shows that resources where underutilized and the gross margin per hectare of land was N 35,370, implying that maize production is profitable in the study. The problems identified by maize farmers were inadequate capital (68.75%), lack of improved seed (52%) while (31%) of the farmers lacked fertilizer to increase production. [A. B. Mohammed et al. Economic Analysis of Maize Production in Ogori / Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology, 2012; 2(3):111-115].