TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF GUINEA CORN (Sorghum bicolor L.) PRODUCTION IN BALI LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

The research was conducted in Bali local Government of Taraba State to analyze the technical efficiency of guinea corn production. The specific objectives of the study were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of guinea corn farmers; determine the technical efficiency level of guinea corn farmers; and identify the constraints affecting guinea corn farmers. Purposive, and simple random sampling techniques were used in the selection of 160 respondents, using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, were employed for the analysis. The results of the socio-economic characteristics revealed that 70% of the respondents are male, while 79% had farm size less than 1.5 hectares. The Stochastic frontier production result showed that seed and fertilizer have positive coefficients and are significant at 1% and 5% levels. The herbicide has a negative coefficient, and is significant at 1%, meaning that its use reduces the variable output. The sigma square and lambda coefficient are jointly 0.030 and 9.5083. This indicated that the observed output variation from the frontier is a result of technical inefficiency and random noise. The Gamma coefficient is 0.988 and the significance is at a 1% level. This explains that 98.8% of the total variations of the guinea corn output are due to technical inefficiency. The major constraint, as cited by 75% of the farmers, is the low price of output. Therefore, the study recommends that improved policies should be supported to create a market for their output.