Impact of Rural Financial Institutions Building Program (RUFIN) on the Productivity of Women-Owned Farms and Non-Farm Enterprises in Northern Nigeria

This study was undertaken to determine the impact of the Rural Financial Institution Building Program (RUFIN) on the productivity of women-owned farms and non-farm enterprises in Northern Nigeria. The study utilized primary data collected through a questionnaire administered to 390 beneficiaries and an equal number of non-beneficiaries selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The productivity of women-owned enterprises was determined using Total Factor Productivity (TFP), which was measured as a ratio of the total annual output of the enterprise to the product of capital input, labor input, and total material input. The propensity score matching approach was used to analyze data because of its aptness for overcoming selection bias in an intervention project like RUFIN. Four matching algorithms were tried, which include Nearest Neighbour Matching, Radius Matching, Epanechnikov Kernel Matching, and Stratification methods. Results showed the treatment (RUFIN) had a significant effect on the productivity of women-owned enterprises at 1% probability level, irrespective of the matching method. For the selected stratification matching method, the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) was 1.673, indicating participation in RUFIN increases the enterprise productivity of a given beneficiary by 1.673. The study concludes that RUFIN had positive impacts on the productivity of beneficiaries. It is recommended that institutionalized development programs that mirror the design and implementation approach of Rural Financial Institution Building Program (RUFIN) should be promoted across national and sub-national governments of Nigeria as a means of scaling the productivity of rural entrepreneurs and harnessing other benefits that accompany rural financing

Risk Attitude of Monocrop and Intercrop Farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria

The research investigated the risk attitude, of farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria, with the aim of generating reliable information on the influence of risk attitudes of the decision-making behaviour of farmers. Agricultural production is highly characterized by risks for this reason, farmers’ attitudes towards risk is imperative in understanding their behaviour towards the adoption of new technology and managerial decisions. The technique applied in order to achieve the objectives of the study was Experimental Gambling Approach. Data to conduct the research was obtained mainly from primary sources through a questionnaire survey of 256 farmers, comprising 98 monocroppers and 158 intercroppers. The results from the study revealed that all the farmers exhibit some level of risk aversion.  The intercroppers were statistically significantly more risk-averse than the monocroppers.  Risk attitude influences the decisions farmers make in the production process and should be considered when formulating agricultural policies. Keywords: Risk attitude, monocroppers, intercroppers and experimental gambling approach.

Economic Efficiency of Poultry Egg Production in Kogi State, Nigeria

The study assessed the determinants of efficiency of poultry egg production in Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi state. Data was collected through a multi-stage sampling technique and analysed using both descriptive and stochastic production frontier. The results revealed that feed intake and utility were the most important inputs in poultry egg production in the area. Furthermore, the study found the average efficiency estimate to be 88.77% and this was influenced positively by education, access to credit and experience. However, about 11.23% of the profit was lost to technical inefficiency. Findings from the study also showed that farmers were operating in stage one of production at 1.02, which is the area of increasing returns to scale. The study thus recommends that efforts should be made at ensuring the poultry farmers have access to credit and educational programmes should be organized to sensitize farmers more on how to improve on their efficiency level. It is also recommended that farmers increase their stock of birds, feed and utilities in other to operate at the stage two of production. Keywords: Efficiency, Poultry Egg, Stoshastic Frontier, Nigeria