ANALYSIS OF DETERMINANTS OF FARM SIZE PRODUCTIVITY AMONG SMALL-HOLDER TOBACCO FARMERS IN NIGERIA USING OYO STATE AS CASE STUDY.

This study focused on analysis of determinants of farm size productivity among small-holder tobacco farmers in Oyo state. Specifically, the study examined the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers and the determinants of farm size productivity among small-holder tobacco farmers. 240 tobacco farmers were randomly selected from the study area. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule was employed to elicit information from the respondents. Information sought bordered on the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and input used. Data collected was analyzed using log-linear regression model and descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that few (31.97%) of the respondents were between 20 and 29 years of age, majority(67.9%) were part time and


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 6(11), 546-550 547 New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU-NEPAD) report, (2003). It was reported by UNECA, (2005) that agriculture is the main source of income for 90 percent of rural population in Africa. Increased agriculture productivity is one of the strong options for stimulating economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving food security.
In Nigeria for instance, agriculture is still the backbone of the economy despite her oil revenue. Agriculture contributes over 40% of Nigeria's GDP, employs over 70% of the population, and produces about 80% of the food needs. Aye, (2013). Although, agriculture still accounts for about 88% of non-oil export earnings, its contribution has seriously declined over the decade falling from about 75% of total export earnings in the 1960s to less than 3% currently Oji-Okoro,(2011).Agricultural productivity levels in Nigeria, in terms of land and labour productivity, still lag far behind other developing regions.Revelations from British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN, 2010) shows that Oyo state, South West Nigeria, widely focus on cultivating tobacco as cash crops are concerned. The establishment of the state-of-the-art factory in Ibadan, has brought improvement to the economic status, the lives of farmers, their dependents and to their communities. Employment opportunities open up through growing tobacco, for tobacco leaf farmers, farm workers and Nigerian graduates. The expertise acquired in tobacco production is applied on follow-up food crop production leading to relatively higher productivity by tobacco farmers. This process has contributed to the Nigerian economy through the payment of taxes to the Nigerian government.
There are many factors that determine how productive the tobacco enterprise is and what it ought to be in Nigeria as a whole and the study area in particular. Nigeria has a total of 92.4 million hectares of land out of which about 57% (52.668 million hectares) is under crop and pasture production. Although the aggregate production from these lands has sustained the population and the economy in the time past, the rapid increase in population and the need to diversify the economy in other non-agricultural sectors, has necessitated much pressure on the resources (Osuji, 2011). In as much as 75 percent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, productivity is mainly on subsistence level (Osugiri, et al 2012). The farm size had been on the decrease as well as the fallow lengths, which had adversely affected the resource base. Analysis of agricultural productivity in the past was based on scarce labour and abundant land. This study aims at examining some of these factors and determines the extent they have affected agricultural productivity in the study area.

Objectives of the Study:-
The objectives of this study are to: 1. ascertain the social economic characteristics of tobacco farmers in Oyo State; and 2. to analyze the determinants of farm size productivity in the study area.

Methodology:-
The study was carried out in 4 local Government(Saki West, Saki East, Oyo East,Orelope) in Oyo State. A Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 240 Tobacco Farmers. These selected local government were the dominant producer of tobacco according to Nigeria Bureau of Statistics(NBS 2017). 60 farmers were further randomly selected from each local government to make 240 farmers. The data of socio-demographic and demographic characteristics (age, education, religion, marital status, income, occupation, farming experience, land ownership, family labour, hired labour and number of children) were collected using a structured questionnaire and was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the four functional forms of Regression model namely linear, exponential, Cobb-Douglas and log linear. The lead equation was selected based on certain econometric criteria.

Analytical Procedures
The four functional regression models-linear, Cobb-Douglas, Exponential and semi-log were the econometric models specified for explaining productivity in tobacco production.  Table 1 shows the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents which include; age, level of education, religion, gender, marital status, household size, average monthly income, occupation, farming experience, quantity of fertilizer used, land ownership, family labour, hired labour. Few (31.97%) of the respondents were between 20 and 29 years of age, few of the respondents (43.5%) had primary education, majority of the respondents (53.6%) were Christians, majority (78.56%) of the respondents were male, majority (69.43%) were married, majority (57.3%) had an household size of 6 to 10, majority (58.7%) earned an average monthly income between ₦6,000 and ₦10,000, majority (67.9%) of the respondents were part time farmers, majority (50.5%) had a farming experience between 6 and 10 years, majority (66.5%) owned there land on market based basis, majority (62.6%) of the respondents make use of 1 to 5 members of their family for labour while few (36.6%) hire between 1 to 5 labourers. Source: Field Survey, 2018

Econometrics Analysis
The result showed in table 2 is the results of the econometric analysis for tobacco production in the study area. Findings revealed that the productivity of tobacco increases with hired labour which is positively correlated with productivity at 1% level of probability. This finding supports the work of Anyaegbunamet al. (2008). The study revealed that hired labour tends to be more productive than family labour because of the remuneration /wage involved. Most often hired labour may be under supervision by the farmer to make for efficient labour input and usage in the field. The coefficients of farm size and age are significant and negative at 1% and 5% respectively. This could imply that productivity decreases with increase in farm size. The coefficient of mode of occupation was positively correlated to productivity at 5%.This may imply that full time farmers are more productive than part time farmers. Productivity significantly increases with the use of fertilizer at 10%. This is in line with the apriori expectation that use of fertilizer increases output in the work of (Anyaegbunamet al., 2006) Figures in parenthesis represents (t-ratios). ***= Significant at 1%, **=significant at 5%,*=significant at10%. X1=Age in years; X2=Household size; X3= Gender(Dummy variable: 1= male, 0=female); X4=Occupational status (Dummy variable:1=full time farmer,0=part time farmer); X5=farm size in ha; X6=fertilizer use in kg; X7=Hired labour in man days; X8= family labour in man days; X9=land ownership(Dummy variable: 1= market based,0=Nonmarket based)

Conclusion:-
From the findings of this study, it was concluded that given the inverse relationship of farm size and productivity all factors related to farm size productivity such as hired labour, age, mode of operation and fertilize call for positive polices aimed at land reforms towards redistribution of land to make more land available to peasant and landless farmers in order to increase productivity and efficiency.

Recommendation:-
The study recommends that youths should be further encouraged to practice agriculture (Tobacco farming) so as to bridge the encroaching generation gap in Agricultural tobacco farming.