Growth trend analysis of rice productivity in Nigeria

This study set out to analyses rice total factor productivity in Nigeria ecological zones and the growth trend from 1996 to 2010. Statistical information on domestic and imported quantities of rice was obtained for 15 years (1996 to 2010) from the AGROSTAT system of the statistical division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Federal Ministry of Agriculture statistical bulletins, Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletins and National Bureau of Statistic. (NBS). The data were analyzed using Malmquist Index, a non-parameter methodology that uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods. The impact of economic reforms on efficiency and productivity was examined. Evidence suggests total factor productivity registered a negative growth during the reform period in the country as a whole and almost all the ecological zones witnessed higher total factor productivity in the post 2000 period. Decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index shows that improvement in technical efficiency rather than technical progress had contributed to the observed acceleration of the growth rate.