PROFITABILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF TOMATO PRODUCTION AMONG FEMALE FARMERS IN IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Women farmers in Nigeria particularly in rural areas have always worked and their labour contributes a key role in the survival of millions of Nigeria families. Most rural women in Nigeria are the invisible farmers and they form the backbone of rural development, however more than half of Nigeria’s food is produced by female farmers. These studies analyze the profitability and efficiency of tomato production among female farmers in Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State. The study specifically described the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, determines the technical efficiency and factors affecting technical efficiency and lastly estimated the profitability of tomato production in the study area. The study revealed that the female tomato farmers were adult and active, most of the farmers were literate, majority had 5 household sizes and less and most of the female tomato farmers had little experience in tomato production. The study also revealed that farm size, capital and labour were the factors that significantly affected tomato production of the respondents while the variables representing household size and number years spent in school affected the Inefficiency of farmers in the study area. The mean technical efficiency was found to be 0.97 (or 97%) which implied that, on the average, the farmers were 97% technically efficient; hence their observed output was about 3% less than the maximum frontier output.