Productivity in agribusiness firms and its determinants in Abia State, Nigeria

Type Journal Article - Journal of Economics and International Finance
Title Productivity in agribusiness firms and its determinants in Abia State, Nigeria
Author(s)
Volume 3
Issue 12
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2011
Page numbers 662-668
URL http://www.academicjournals.org/app/webroot/article/article1379758431_Nto and Mbanasor.pdf
Abstract
The study examined total factor productivity in agribusiness firms and its determinants in Abia state,
Nigeria. The specific objectives includes, (1) to classify and examine firm specific characteristics that
enhance productivity in agribusiness and (2) to identify factors that influence total factor productivity in
agribusiness firms in Abia State. The first objective was realised with descriptive statistics while the
second was determined with stochastic frontier production function. Data for the study was collected
from 40 agribusiness firms. Analysis of the study was done using descriptive statistics and stochastic
frontier production models. The result of the maximum likelihood estimates of the stochastic frontier
production function indicates that the determinants of total-factor productivity (TFP) are skill labour,
raw material, years of operation, scale of operation, access to credit and distance to nearby market.
While the findings of the study reveals that skilled labour with coefficient of 0.823, years of operation,
and access to credit exerted positive influence, variables like cost of raw material with coefficient of
0.097, distance to nearby market and scale of operation had negative influence on total factor
productivity of agribusiness firm in the area. Based on this, it was recommended that agribusiness
firms should build capacity of their workers through regular mounting of training programs and adopt
strategies that would reduce cost of raw materials by purchasing in bulk among other things

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