Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the income generation level and constraints of sweet potato landrace production in Ikom agricultural zone of Cross River state, Nigeria. The multi-stage sampling procedure was followed. The first stage involved the selection of Ikom agricultural zone out of Calabar and Ogoja agricultural zones, which was purposively selected. The reason is that there are a lot of farm settlements in the zone that engages in the Otere-two variety production. The second stage involved the selection of Ikom local agricultural area out of six other local government areas, which was done purposively. The area is known for the production of Otere two, a white local variety of sweet potato. Third stage involved the selection of Otere site and field crop settlement area which was done purposively because the two areas are known for the cultivation of Otere-two variety of sweet potato. There were about 120 farmers in the two areas and 75 of them were randomly selected and interviewed with semi-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics, profitability and Cobb Douglas production function Model. On the aspect of profit maximization by Otere-two farmers, it was found that a profit of N2.71 was realized for each N1.00 invested in the production of the crop. The Cobb Douglas regression model results showed that costs of planting material and other inputs were positive and significantly related with gross return from Otere-two variety production. While human labour was found to have negative but significant relationship with gross return from Otere-two variety production. It was also found that factors like cost of fertilizer and transport cost were positive and negative but has no significant relationship with gross return from Otere-two variety production. Finally, it was found from the regression that the production of Otere-two variety of sweet potato by the farmers was decreasing suggesting that the production is within subsistence level.

Key words: Income, factor, sweet potato (Otere-two variety), Cross River state, Nigeria.