Resources Management for Income Optimization in Smallholder Food Crop Farms in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Agricultural mobilization based purely on resources availability factor alone may falter due to inadequate attention that is hitherto paid to other complementary factors. Empirical evidence from the current study conducted on typical small-holder farms in South-western Nigeria has shown that while the availability of the required input resources were essential in raising income on small-holder farms, resources management choice factor was the most relatively crucial. With better choice of management and careful selection of enterprises, the current level of available resources at the disposal of small-holder farmers in the study area was adequate to make them economically viable and improve their potential savings. Income realizable with 'better' management plan option was N 359,761.79 per hectare while ₦ 164,213.88 per hectare was earned with the current level of resources use and enterprise combination. The better management plan recommended the cultivation of cassava/yam (0.59 ha.), maize/cassava (0.34 ha.), Banana-plantain (0.26 ha) and maize/cocoyam (0.22 ha) on 1.42 hectares of land instead of the current 2.37 hectares (67% increase) cultivated mostly to sole cropping. However, the additional human and financial requirements of the proposed better management plan called for dedicated and active government action programmes in form of provision of most input needs of farmers at subsidized rates, provision of extension and training in modern farm management and organization techniques and establishment of advisory service centers to monitor and supervise the use of resource inputs on farms.