ASSESSMENT OF THE PROFITABILITY OF PADDY PRODUCTION IN EDU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Despite the concerted efforts to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production, the achievement of the policy objective has remained elusive. There is therefore need to examine the various factors influencing the local rice production with a view to re-direct efforts towards the achievement of the policy objective of becoming self-reliant in rice production. This study is therefore designed to assess the profitability of paddy rice production in Edu local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria. 90 paddy rice farmers in Edu local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria were randomly sampled using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, Net farm income, gross margin and net profit was also examined for paddy rice enterprises and lastly, a regression analysis was used to examine the factors influencing the cost of paddy rice production in the study area. 34.7% were between the age range of 21-40 years old, while 31.1% were 41-60 years old. Also 66.7 % of the respondents had no formal education, 12.2 % had only primary school education, 17.8 had secondary school education while only 3.3% had tertiary level of education. Farm budget result shows that the average gross margin per farmer was N 213,922.2 per year while the net farm profit was estimated at N 126,690.4. Cost of controlling for damage and household size were significant at 1%, cost of plant the seeds years of rice farming experience were both significant at 10% and quantity of output was significant at 5%. The result showed that rice production is a profitable venture, implying that if the farmers are assisted, their income and livelihood will be further enhanced.