Effects of Farmers’ Field School on the Technical Efficiency of Cocoa Farmers in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, among which cocoa is key. Over the years cocoa production has been declining and various interventions have been directed to improving production and productivity of cocoa in Nigeria. One of these interventions is the Farmers’ Field School (FFS) approach. FFS employs a non formal approach to pass across new knowledge of improved and good agricultural practice to farmers. Therefore, the study aimed to examine the effects of Farmer Field School (FFS) on the Technical Efficiency (TE) of cocoa farmers in Cross River and Ondo States, Nigeria. The study areas for this study were the two major cocoa-producing states in Nigeria; Cross River and Ondo States. A total of 120 cocoa farmers were interviewed. This sample size was divided between both states equally. Thus, 60 respondents were selected randomly from around FFS communities for each state. Among the 60 respondents in each state, 30 were FFS participants while the other 30 were Non Farmer Field School (NFFS) participants. The study revealed that the FFS participants had an efficiency score of 0.84 while the NFFS participants’ technical efficiency score was 0.77. The study therefore concluded that the FFS participants were more efficient in the use of factors of production that their NFFS counterparts.