Abstract

This study employed the use of the Stochastic Frontier Production Function in the empirical analysis of efficiency of resource-use and elasticity of production among catfish farmers in Kaduna, Nigeria. The simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting 60 catfish farmers drawn from the sampling frame obtained from the list of list of Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) contact farmers in the four Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Chikun, Igabi, Kaduna and Kaduna North, which made up the study area. Empirical estimates from the analysis showed Marginal Physical Product (MPP) values ranged from -430.850 for catfish feed to 1.004 for labour. It was equally established in this study that catfish farmers in the study area were not efficient in their use of production inputs, based on VMPi/Pxi ratios that ranged from -426.71 for catfish feed to 3.46 for labour, with none approximating to unity (which would have indicated that the farmers were optimally efficient in their use of production inputs). Also, production elasticity estimates indicated that the farmers were in stage 2 of the production process, with a return to scale of 0.664. These estimates indicate the existence of intervention points for relevant stakeholders in the bourgeoning catfish business in Kaduna.

Key words: Efficiency of resource-use, food crisis, elasticity of production, maximum likelihood estimates, ordinary least squares, return to scale, stochastic frontier production function.