Yusuf and Mustapha Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 9(3), pp. 344-349, 2019 ISSN: 2276-7770 Copyright ©2019, the copyright of this article is retained by the author(s) DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.15580/GJAS.2019.3.082519161 https://gjournals.org/GJAS Socio-Economic Determinants of Technical Efficiency in Rainfed Rice Production in Sokoto State, Nigeria Yusuf, Balarabe Ibrahim 1; Mustapha, Muhammad Bashir 2 *1Department of Agricultural Science, Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Nigeria 2Department of Economics, Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Nigeria ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article No.: 082519161 Type: Research DOI: 10.15580/GJAS.2019.3.082519161 The study examined socio economic determinants of technical efficiency in rainfed rice production system in Sokoto state, Nigeria. Using a multistage random sampling technique, 300 farmers were randomly selected from six purposively selected rainfed rice producing local government areas of Sokoto state. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The maximum likelihood estimates on the determinants of technical efficiency shows that the coefficients of farming experience (p<0.01), off-farm income (p<0.05) and extension contact (p<0.01) significantly influenced technical efficiency of the rainfed rice farmers in the area. The mean technical efficiency in rainfed rice production system in the area was 73.2 percent suggesting that rice production fell 26.8 percent short of the maximum (frontier) possible output. The study recommends that farmers need to utilize their farming experience and endeavour to acquire more knowledge and skills in farming while the State Government should engage trained and qualified youths with NCE/Degree in agriculture to serve as extension agents and support them with transport facilities and commensurate remuneration for effective extension service delivery. Submitted: 25/08/2019 Accepted: 27/08/2019 Published: 23/09/2019 *Corresponding Author Balarabe Ibrahim Yusuf E-mail: balarabebally@ gmail.com Phone: +234(0)8036394844 Keywords: Rice; Rainfed; determinants; technical-efficiency Return to Content View [Full Article – PDF] [Full Article – HTML] [Full Article – EPUB] Post-Publication Peer-review Rundown View/get involved, click [Peer-review] REFERENCES Aigner DD, Lovell CAK and Schmidt P (1977) Formulation and Estimation of Stochastic Frontier Production Function Models. Journal of Econometrics, 6:21-37. Amaza PS and Maurice DC (2005) Identification of factors that influence technical efficiency in Rice-Based production systems in Nigeria: Paper presented at workshop on Policies and Strategies for Promoting Rice Production and Food Security in Sub-sahara Africa 7-9 November, Cotonou, Benin. Ani AO (2007) Agricultural Extension: A Pathway for Sustainable Agricultural Development. 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