Comparative Analysis of Factors Influencing Quantity of Maize Marketed Among Agricultural Households in Oyo and Osun States, Nigeria (Published)
This research is a comparative analysis with a focus on the quantity of maize marketed and factors influencing such quantity among agricultural households in Oyo and Osun States of Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to sample two hundred and twenty (220) maize farmers from Oyo while one hundred and eighty (180) maize farmers were selected from Osun for the study. A structured interview schedule was used to collect primary data from the respondents. Data were obtained on socio-economic characteristics of respondents, production and marketing practices, prices and costs. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an estimation of Cobb-Douglas regression model and the Chow’s F- test.
The result showed that in Oyo state, mean age for respondents was 45.8 years while it is 42.7 years for Osun counterparts. The summary of sex distribution revealed that 70.9 percent of the Oyo respondents are male compared with 57.8 percent of Osun respondents. In addition, 17.7percent of Oyo respondents compared with 14.4 percent of Osun respondents had no formal education at all. The summary of marital status distribution of respondents showed that more than ninety percent of the interviewed farmers from each state were married while the major source of finance for the farmers from both states was personal savings. Regression analysis revealed the R-squared (R2) as 0.734 for Oyo while it is 0.794 for Osun. This showed that 73.4percent of the variation in quantity of maize marketed by respondents from Oyo was explained by the estimated variables while the variables explained up to 79.4 percent for Osun. The Chow’s f-test that was employed to measure the statistical difference between quantity of maize marketed by Oyo and Osun States respondents revealed that there is no significant difference.
Keywords: Chow’s f-test, Food Security, Maize Marketing