SMALLHOLDER LOWLAND

Despite interventions by the government and other institutions to boost cassava production in Bayelsa State, maximum yield for consumption in the State is yet to be achieved. Hence, need to ascertain if the inability of the State to attain cassava sufficiency is linked to farmer-level efficiency. The main objective of the study was farm-level efficiency of smallholder lowland and
upland cassava production in Ogbia Local Government Area (LGA) of Bayelsa State. The specific objectives of the study were to; identify the socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder lowland and upland cassava farmers in the study area, estimate the technical and cost efficiencies of lowland and upland smallholder cassava farmers in the study area, compare the technical and
cost efficiencies of the lowland and upland cassava farmers, and identify the constraints faced by smallholder cassava farmers in the study area. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 325 cassava farmers (176upland, 149 lowland) from 12 communities in Ogbia LGA. Cross sectional data were collected for the 2023/2024 cassava farming season using questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to profile the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers, a translog stochastic production and cost frontier model using maximum likelihood were used to estimate the level of technical and cost efficiency and also identify inefficiency sources in cassava production, T test was used to compare the mean technical and cost efficiencies scores of the upland and lowland smallholder farmers and a four (4) point Likert scale was used to identify the severity of the constraints faced
by the farmers