Abstract

The high cost of food due to scarcity and high demand for the limited quantity of the available food has been worrisome and posed a great concern to policy makers on the need for food security hence the study. This study aims to unravel the issue to ascertain the socioeconomic features of the farmers, determine the factors affecting the food crop combinations and estimate the net returns. A multistage sampling technique was adopted for the State to collect a random sample size of 150 respondents used for the analysis. Data were analyzed with the descriptive statistics, regression analysis and net returns. The result showed that 73% of the farmers were above 45 years of age, 60% of them had over 20 years of farming experience while the regression result showed that farm size, extension contact and educational level were positively significant at 1% level. The net return from the food crops; cassava, maize and melon showed a gross margin of N210000, N44000 and N42000 with net profit of N166481.5, N32481.5 and N34789.5. It was recommended that younger people should be encouraged and adequate training should be done through formal education and extension visits to boost output hence the practice should be encouraged since it can produce enough foods regularly and still profitable.

1. Introduction

Food is one of the major / basic needs of man as it is being referred to as the elixir of life. Food is produced from the cultivation of crops and rearing of animals which involves agriculture. Agriculture is the bed rock of food production for consumption, sustenance, raw materials and income earnings at the long run. Food production is of utmost importance to man and of great importance to government for effective, efficient and sufficient food supply to its citizens and beyond to tackle the challenges of food security. In this regard agricultural food production is one of the major economic policies of most developing countries ¹ for adequate and sustainable food production targeted to food security initiatives.

Food security initiative is the state of having adequate nutritious food supply at affordable price ². This is made manifest in agriculture through subsistence farming by smallholder farmers in the production of food, raw materials and foreign exchange earnings. These categories of farmers have been known to make food available, accessible, stabilized and utilized thereby satisfying the pillars of food security. Agricultural food production is a good source of investment that provides security, income, poverty reduction and enhances the living standard of the people.

Agricultural food production has been in practice by smallholder farmers as agriculture is known as the vehicle for food production and the mainstay of the economy before the invention of crude oil which made the agricultural sector to be neglected thereby turning the country to a mono economy ³. Before the invention of crude oil, Nigeria used to produce enough food to sustain her populace and surpluses exported for foreign exchange earnings. This in line with Abolagba Kaine, Onyekwere & Abolagba ¹ that Nigeria produced above 15 percent of the world cocoa and the second largest producer of crop in the world. He further stated that Nigeria ranked high in production of crops such as groundnut, cocoa, beans, palm produce and palm oil.

Agriculture plays a significant role in economic growth and development of Nigeria despite food and raw materials, it is the largest employer of labour that provides the basic necessity of man and serving as a potential medium for diversifying the Nigerian economy in terms of enterprise crop combinations ². Enterprise combination of crops is the practice of having more than one crop planted by a farmer on a particular land. This is an option and readily practiced by smallholder farmers especially smallholder oil palm farmers. Smallholder farmers in Nigeria are known for living in poor rural areas even as they are the major contributors to the agricultural sector which aggregates to the GDP of the economy. They are about 80% of palm oil producers globally in conjunction with other crops, planting between 1-5 hectares in Nigeria ⁴. They produce crops such as maize, cassava, melon, pumpkin, banana amongst others as a practice termed Intercropping. Intercropping is the practice whereby a variety of food crops are planted with oil palm. Smallholder oil palm farmers in Nigeria practice intercropping as an option in dualistic economy due to scarcity of land for many purposes, as a means of labour use maximization / utilization and for high increase in short term returns from the food crops to sustain the family needs by making food available, accessible, stabilized and utilized and have excess for sale. The enterprise combination of crops by household farmers for food security evident in the financial return (output) of crops planted on oil palm plantation is estimated by considering the financial aspects like farmer’s income from intercrops within the first three years before oil palm fruiting that adds to the financial return of the households. Studies conducted in NIFOR since the 1940s have demonstrated suitable systems that permit the simultaneous cultivation of oil palm and food crops in the early years of oil palm establishment opined by Omorefe, ⁵. Result of these studies showed that there is no adverse effect to the oil palm from the intercrops, while the farmers reap immense economic benefit and food surplus from the system when the crops are carefully arranged and spaced. The pattern of Records showed that appropriate technology increases the productivity of the oil palm and food crops and had no adverse effects on the growth and development of the oil palms ⁶. Biometric observation showed that intercropping oil palm with maize and cassava is beneficial to the oil palm ⁷. Onwubuya and Eneh ⁶ opined that intercrop stimulates the growth and yield of oil palm. More recent trials ⁸ showed the benefit of appropriate cropping mixture and planting sequence on the productivity of the system under 4-year intensive intercropping. Previous studies on the intercropping of oil palm spacing of 9mx9m triangular have shown that it is beneficial to plant food crops in the wide in oil palm interlines during the first four years before the canopy closes so that fertility of the soil should be enriched with inorganic fertilizers after several years of intercropping. Okpala-Jose and Lucas ⁹ and Okere, Uwubanwen, Garba. Oisakede, Akparanta & Maduike ¹⁰ reported that intercropping enhanced oil palm growth and yield as a result of weed control through direct weeding or weed suppression by some of the spreading intercrops in addition to soil cultivation.

Despite the challenges faced by neglect of agriculture from crude boom thereby relegating agricultural food production to the lowest level making the country food insecure, enterprise combination of food crops still play a significant role in food production and food security in the steady production and supply of food seasonally and off seasons. This could be seen as a “Game Changer” for the prevalent and persistent food scarcity currently in Nigeria and globally. This study tends to ascertain the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers, determine the factors affecting food production, and estimate their output.

2. Methodology

The study was conducted in Edo State. Edo in southern Nigeria created in 1991 from Bendel State with its capital in Benin City. The State is made up of eighteen local government areas having three Agro-ecological zones; Edo North, Edo Central and Edo South (Edo State Agricultural Development Programme (EADP) ¹¹. The estimated population of the state is about 3218332 comprising 1640461 males and 1577871 females at a growth rate of 2.7% per annum (NPC, 2006). The State is located between longitude 06’ 04⁰ E and 06’ 43⁰E and latitude 05’ 44⁰E and 07’ 34⁰N with boundaries: Delta State in the south, Ondo State to the west, Kogi State to the North and part of Delta State to the east. The land mass is about 19187 sq km suitable for oil palm production hence the choice state. Data were collected using a well- structured questionnaire, personal observation and personal interview method. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for this study. The first stage was the purposive selection of three agricultural zones in the State. This is to address a complete representative of oil palm farmers in the State. The second stage was a purposive selection of twelve local government areas comprising 5 LGA from Edo South, 5 LGA from Edo Central and 2 LGA from Edo North that showed evidence of high oil palm farmers’ concentration. The third stage was a purposive selection of 2 communities from Edo South and 1 community each from Edo Central and Edo North (10= ED S, 5=ED C, 2=ED N) and a random sample selection of 8 respondents from Edo South, 10 each from Edo Central and Edo North giving a total of 150 respondents that were used for the analysis. The population sample could be clearly stated thus:

Data collected were analyzed with the descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages for the socioeconomic characteristics, the ordinary least square regression model for the factors affecting food crop production enterprise and budgetary analysis such as the cost and returns to obtain the net returns of the smallholder oil palm farmers. The regression model is implicitly expressed as:

Y = f (X₁, X₂, Xn……………., e) …………(1)

Where; n= any number and e = error term

Y = Output (cassava, maize, melon) (₦)

X₁ = Age (years)

X₂ = Sex (Male = 1 or female= 0)

X₃ = Marital status (dummy= 1 or 0)

X₄ = Level of Education (years)

X₅ = Farm Experience (years)

X₆ = Extension Contact (No)

X₇ = Farm size (Ha)

X₈ = Household size (No)

X₉ = Labour (mandays)

X₁₀ = Distance (km)

X₁₁ = Planting material (input) (kg)

X₁₂ = capital inputs (depreciation)(₦)

Explicitly as:

Semi log

Y = ln(Z₀ + Z₁X₁ ……………+ Z_nX_n + e)_………….(2)

Where: ln = log,

Y = Output

X₁….. X_n are as defined as above, Z_o= constant / intercept, Z₁ – Z_n = regression coefficients and e = error term.

The Net Returns

TC = ∑TVC + ∑TFC

TR = ∑ PQ

Gross margin = TR – TVC

Net Profit = TR – (TVC + TFC)

Where TC = Total cost

TVC = Total Variable Cost.

TFC = Total fixed cost

TR = Total revenue of food crops

3. Results and Discussion

The result showed that 73% of the farmers were above 45 years of age indicating old age with lesser strength to carry on their daily farming activities and adopt the latest technology. This is in line with the findings of Tesfahun, ¹² that older people hardly adopt new technologies. The result of the sex indicated that 60% were females as women are mainly involved in the enterprise food crop combination practices and processing of palm oil in the later stages that requires a lot of human and material resources for its effectiveness according to Mgbakor, Ugwu & Oghenemaro ¹³. The result further showed that only 87% were married and 39% had post primary education. There is a high indication that majority of them are not well read as to be accountable for their food crop production for a secured food to embrace the adoption of innovations. The result further showed that 60% of them had less than 10 extension visits per season. This is not enough to create awareness and enlighten them for the regular production of food and the adoption of the technologies irrespective of the Nigerian government announcement of hiring 75000 extension workers as part of efforts to increase food production Udegbunam, 2021 ¹⁴.

It showed that 60% of them had over 20 years of farming experience, indicating that it is an old enterprise. Farm size indicated that 87% of them plants less than 4 hectares which is still at the range of smallholder farmers producing limited quantity of food within their capacity. The result showed that 68% of them had a household size of 4-6 persons indicating that more household size will result in increased enterprise crop combination. This shows that a reasonable number of family labour will be utilized in the enterprise crop combination to produce more food if full utilized. The annual income indicated that 70% of them earned less than ₦200000 per annum with only 30% above ₦200000 as compared to the estimated average annual output (income) of integrated household oil palm farmers from 2.7 – 7.4 tons per hectare in Nigeria ⁴.

The regression result revealed that the semi log formed the lead equation having the highest coefficient of multiple determination of 81.6% with the highest number of significant explanatory variables and the highest number of consistent a priory expectations, based on the signs of the explanatory variables. The results revealed farm size, extension contact and educational level were positively significant at 1% level indicating that an increase in the level of each of them leads to a proportional increase in food crop combination as observed by Owoeye ¹⁵. Distance, planting material and depreciation of capital inputs showed negative and significant effects on the farmers food crop combinations as any increase leads to proportional decrease in the food production process according to Olasunkanmi, Micheal & Fisayo ¹⁶. Marital status had negative effect on the enterprise crop combination.

The above table shows the net returns from the selected three food crops intercropped with oil palm. The result showed that the combination of intercropping oil palm with food crops is a profitable enterprise. The total cost of production is highest in cassava because of the high cost of labour as the crop stays longer than maize and melon. It further showed that an average farmer cultivating cassava, maize and melon in oil palm plantation has the gross margin of N210000, N44000 and. N42000 respectively. The revenue generated from food crops; cassava, maize and melon were N250000, N50000 and N46000 with gross margin of N210000, N44000 and N42000 having net profit of N166481.5, N32481.5 and N34789.5 respectively per hectare. They are all profitable even though not as much as when planted solely due to the wide spacing distances from oil palm stands to food crops and in-between them, still proven to be economically sustainable and food secure. This is in line with the findings of Okpala-Jose and Lucas ⁹ and Okere, Uwubanwen, Garba, Oisakede, Akparanta &Maduike ¹⁰ that intercropping of oil palm spacing of 9mx9m triangular is beneficial to plant food crops in the wide in oil palm interlines during the first four years before the canopy closes and this practice should be encouraged as this keeps and sustains the farmer with regular food both on and off seasons.

Conclusion

The ravaging rate of hunger, starvation and poverty in the country has posed a lot of questions on food insecurity thereby becoming worrisome to all hence this study. The study was to examine the activities of smallholder oil palm farmer in their food crop enterprise as they are one of the major contributors of food. This was assessed and the findings revealed that their activities can produce enough foods regularly, involve the activities of younger people, enhance their educational and training level since it were profitable and should be encouraged for more steady supply of food.

References