Technical Efficiency of Chilli Pepper Production in Kaduna State, Nigeria

This paper deals with issues of improving technical efficiency and productivity of chilli pepper production in Kaduna state. It uses the stochastic frontier analysis approach for the estimation of production functions. The paper made use of a cross-sectional data between August and November 2014 crop season to obtain information from 200 chilli pepper farmers in the 3 local government areas of Kaduna State. The aims of this paper were to describe socio-economic characteristics of chilli pepper farmers and determine the technical efficiency of chilli pepper farmers in Kaduna state. Purposive and random sampling techniques were employed for data collection. The paper revealed that 37.5% of the respondents fall within the age of 30-39 years. The 53% had formal education. The household size ranged from 6-10 persons, majority of the farmers (72%) of chilli pepper farmers do not participate in any chilli pepper related cooperative association, and the result shows that 98.5% of chilli pepper farmers financed their production from their personal savings. The paper revealed that (58.5%) of chilli pepper farmers have extension visit; Results indicated that except for labour and agro-chemical, all other factors were significant (P < 0.01, P >0.1). The mean technical efficiency is 90%. The findings of this paper revealed that none of the sample chilli pepper farmers reached the frontier threshold. Thus, within the context of efficient agricultural production, output can still be increase by 10% using available inputs and technology. It was therefore recommended that timely and adequate supply of fertilizer should be made available to farmers at affordable price in order to enhance chilli pepper production.