Market Supply Response of Cassava Farmers in Ile-Ife, Osun State

Abstract

This study examined the market supply response of cassava farmers in Ile-Ife, Osun State. Data were collected from 80 cassava farmers from four cassava producing Local Government Areas (LGAs) namely; Ife-East, Ife-Central, Ife-North and Ife-South. These were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression technique. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that method of cassava farming was mainly traditional and cassava was mostlly cultivated with maize. Majority of the cassava farmers were married, literate and of about 35 years meaning that more young people were into cassava cultivation in Ile-Ife. Also, the farmers had an average of 8 members per household. The results of the regression analysis revealed that 97% of the variations in the marketed surplus of cassava were explained by the variables in the model. The result also revealed that the quantity of cassava output in kg and the family size had positive and significant effects on the marketed surplus while losses, quantity of cassava consumed in kg, payments in kind in kg, size of land in hectares had negative effects on the marketed surplus. The elasticity of marketed surplus was 1.6 meaning that the supply response was elastic indicating that the higher the price of cassava output in kg the more the quantity of cassava that will be supplied.

Key words: Cassava Farmers; Market supply response; Nigeria; Osun State