Cost And Return Analysis Of Rice Production In Kwara State, Nigeria Under Sawah Technology

As a result of high population growth and urbanization, there is a high and increasing demand for rice, this necessitates the high attention for its production. Sawah technology if properly employed would improve the output of Nigeria’s rice production; hence, resulting in a high financial return at sales. A number of factors which need to be considered for profitable sawah rice output include: land availability, availability of machineries, application of appropriate fertilizer, technical knowhow, lowland farm size, availability and management of irrigation water. The study therefore examines the economic analysis of rice production under sawah programme in Kwara state. Out of 80 sawah rice farmers interviewed with the aid of a well-structured interview schedule, the descriptive statistics revealed that majority of the respondents are male with a year experience of the technology and are of secondary level of education. Rice production under Sawah system is profitable going by the cost and return analysis. The expense structure ratio is 0.924, while the gross ratio is 0.149 indicating that for every N0.149 expended there is a return of N1.00. From the regression analysis, farming experience, fixed cost, farm size, cost of labour and fertilizer were all significantly related to rice output under Sawah production at 1% significant level while the age of the respondents is significant to the output at 5% level. The study therefore recommends that more awareness should be made for the technology through the media, workshops and seminars and supported by policies of government at various levels.