Efficiencies and Barriers in Participating in Cocoa's Farm Business School (FBS) in Nigeria

This study was designed to examine the efficiencies and barriers in participating in Farm Business School (FBS) among cocoa farmers in some selected states in Nigeria. Primary data was collected through direct personal interviews, and with the use of a well-structured questionnaire from 300 sampled cocoa farmers. The data analytical techniques employed in this study include descriptive statistics and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The results from the descriptive statistics for participants and non-participants showed that majority of the farmers were relatively old given life expectancy in Nigeria as 52 years. Participants and non-participants in the study area had a mean age of 54 years. The cocoa farming is been dominated by male farmers. DEA analysis revealed that for constant return to scale technical efficiency (CSRTE), about 18% of the sampled cocoa farms were technically efficient for participants and 10% for non-participants while the remaining cocoa farms were technically inefficient. Considering the Variable Return to Scale TE (VRSTE) orientation, 66% and 48% of the cocoa farms in the sampled area were technically efficient for participants and non-participants respectively. The study further revealed that the farmers in the study area encountered a number of constraints during training and production process. For participants, high cost of transportation, ageing cocoa trees, climate change, and insufficient capital were their major constraints, while high incidence of pests and diseases, high prices of inputs, high cost of transportation, high cost of labour, insufficient working capital, ageing cocoa trees, and low producer prices has their major problems in production process of the non-participants. Based on the findings of the study, reducing FBS constraints in production process is important, training should be encouraged and sustainability of the program, as there is need for collaboration among NGOs to funding programmes and trainings.