Economic Analysis of the Input Use Efficiency among Cocoa Farmers in Taraba State, Nigeria

The study examined the economic analysis of input use efficiency among cocoa farmers in Taraba State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were collected from 115 randomly selected cocoa farmers in Taraba State of Nigeria. The study reveals that majorities (86.9%) of the respondents are male and 56.7% are of age fifty years and below. Majority (91.3%) of the respondents had formal education while 65.2% had more than 10 years of farming experience. The study further reveals that the farmers are operating profitably considering their per capita gross margin and net farm income of N6, 980 and N144, 450 respectively. Critical factors affecting cocoa output are found to be cost of pesticide, labour and cutlass which are all significant at 1% level. The study also reveals that the farmers are operating on an increasing return to scale given an elasticity of production of 2.64 and all the resources are underutilized. It is recommended that farmers should be given incentives such as subsidy or credit facilities to enable them procure the critical inputs particularly pesticide, labour and cutlass in cocoa production.