Evaluation of the Effect of Price Variations of Inorganic Fertilizer on Farmer’s Productivity in Giwa L. G. A of Kaduna State Nigeria.

Abstract

The research work was primarily carried out to evaluate the effect of price variation of inorganic fertilizer on farmer’s productivity in Giwa L.G.A of Kaduna State. The research examined the major effects of price of chemical fertilizer on the farmers output .The causes of these price variations were also identified and problems associated with the marketing of the fertilizer were also considered .Eighty (80) questionnaires were used for the data collection ,forty for the farmers and forty for the marketers. Randomised sampling technique was used to collect the data while frequency and percentages were used for the analysis.
From the result of the analysis, it showed that some of the effect of price variation on farmer’s productivity included, change of crops to be cultivated, reduction in size of land cultivated and reduction in application dose resulting to poor yield. Also, from the result, it showed that the prices of the N.P.K and Urea fertilizers increases from ?3000 and ?2500  naira in 2011 to ?7000 naira and ?6500 in 2015 respectively . This increase in prices also lead to a reduction in the quantity of fertilizer being purchased by the farmers from 10 bags in 2011 to 3 bags in 2015. The reduction in the number of bags of fertilizer used by the farmers also resulted in a decrease in the yield of the crop per hectare. The problem associated with fertilizer marketing were also identified to include high transportation cost, high purchasing cost and poor market demand of the commodity. To reduce the negative effect of price variation of fertilizer on farmer’s productivity, the government should set up a board responsible for pricing of agric products and those of chemical fertilizer .The government should also break the monotony of the fertilizer producers by allowing individuals to set up their own manufacturing industries which will make the product readily available hence forcing the prices to be steady. Loans should also be made available to the farmers to enable them expand their farming business