ABSTRACT

This study was conducted in 2014 to assess the contribution of urban and peri-urban maize production on the food security of farm households in Kaduna State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 156 farmers. Primary data were used in the research and were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Descriptive Statistics was used to; describe the socio-economic characteristics of the urban and peri-urban farmers, determine the level of contribution of maize to household farm income, describe the constraints faced by the urban and peri-urban maize farmers. Stochastic frontier production analysis was used to determine the production efficiency of the urban and peri-urban maize farmers, logit regression model was used to determine the food security and its determinants while food security line was used to determine the impact of urban and peri-urban maize production on the food security status of the maize farmers. The results showed that the mean age of the farmers was 48 years and more than half (53.2%) of the maize farmers had no formal education. 80% of the farmers had up to 5 people intheir households, while 89.6% of the farmers had no access to finance. 82% of the farmers had no contact with extension services.The log-likelihood function implied that inefficiency exist in the data. There was 23% random variation in the yield of the farmers which was due to inefficiency. The average technical efficiency of the farmers was 0.83 implying that, they are able to obtain 83% of potential output from a given mixture of production inputs. Thus, in the short-run, there is minimal scope (17%) of increasing the efficiency, by adopting the technology and techniques used by the best farmer. Estimated coefficients of all the parameters of production function (seeds, fertilizer, agrochemicals and labour) were positive with the exception of agrochemicals. Factors affecting efficiencies of maize production were educational level, household size and age. The contribution of maize amounted to 68% of the total household income. 54% of the urban and peri-urban farmers were food secure. The major constraints identified were labour (81%), access to funds (62.8%), lack of access to improved hybrid seeds, poor education and access to extension services. It is recommended that the farmers should diversify their sources of income and register with cooperative societies which may be necessary for them to access funds. Agro-based industries and non-governmental organizations should be encouraged to support research and production of maize. Inputs such as fertilizer, improved hybrid seeds should be made available in good time to support urban and peri-urban maize production.