Technical Efficiency of Sweet Potato Farmers in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

This study analyzed technical efficiency of sweet potato farmers in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. A sample of 80 sweet potato farmers was selected using the multistage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection This implies that sweet potato farmers in the study area are technical inefficient in resource use, and therefore technical efficiency could be increased by 53% through optimal reallocation of existing resources. This result also reveals that level of education, farming experience; household size and credit access are important factors contributing to technical efficiency. Sweet potato farmers with higher education that acquired more farming experience have small household size and have access to credit tends to be more efficient. Therefore, policies that will enable the farmers to improve on their education and grant them increased access to credit to be vigorously pursued for increasing the farmers’ efficiency and income.