This research empirically determined the cost efficiency of the farmers that participated in the IFAD/VCD programme in Niger State of Nigeria. The study elicited cross-sectional data of 2018 cropping season from a structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule from a sample size of 110 respondents selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. The sampled data were analyzed using the stochastic cost frontier model. The empirical evidence showed that none of the farmers were on the cost frontier surface i.e. inability to attain optimal minimum cost in the cultivation of rice in the studied area. The identified significant idiosyncratic variables militating against cost efficiency were poor health status of the farm family, which led to extra cost incurred in labor substitution and diseconomies of scale due to their small-scale mode of operation. Therefore, the study recommends that the policy makers should sensitize the farmers on the importance of health preventive measures and should endeavor to improve on the existing basic health centers in both human capital and logistics. In addition, the farmers should be encouraged to explore co-operative marketing so as to take advantage of bulk discount in input purchase and have bargaining power in marketing of their output, thus tackling the problem of diseconomies of scale in their farm operations.
Keywords: Cost efficiency, Stochastic, Frontier, IFAD, Rice, Nigeri
