The study compared economic efficiency among smallholder
farmers who practiced low external input technology
[LEIT] and high external input technology [HEIT] agriculture
in a harsh macroeconomic environment typified by inadequate
fertilizer subsidy in Imo State, Nigeria. Cross sectional data
generated from 160 smallholder farmers randomly selected
from 2 out of the 3 agricultural zones in Imo State were used.
Profit function was used in analyzing the data. Results showed
that the LEIT farmers achieved higher level of economic efficiency
relative to their HEIT counterparts, although the
difference is statistically non significant. It is therefore recommended
that in the face of escalating costs of fertilizer, organic
manure could be used. Appropriate policies should be put in
place by the government to encourage livestock rearing so as
to effectively utilize their bye product-organic manure. Household
refuse or bio-degradable from the cities could be channeled to
farms to serve as organic manure.