FARM MACHINERY SELECTION FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BASED ON GROSS-MARGIN COSTING ANALYSIS IN LAFIA L .G .A OF NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

A Survey was conducted in Lafia ,Lafia North and East Local and development areas of Nasarawa State, Nigeria to compare the costs of using hired tractors with the costs of operating privately – owned tractors. The results of survey showed that the State land areas cultivated by the survey farm enterprises was 245ha.The State number of tractors was 15 and all the tractors have the same power rating of 53.7kW (72hp).The total annual fixed cost for operating the tractors was N888,425.36 while the total variable cost was N218,535.36. The cost of hiring by government was less than that of privately-owned enterprise. It was discovered that a tractor ploughing at the rate of 1.2ha/hr and working for an average of 8hrs/day will plough 9.6ha of land per day. The result of the study also highlighted the factors that affect farm machinery selection and how best these factors could be influenced by well-planned selection practices. A gross-margin cost analysis was used in the profit evaluation of specific machinery work combination. It was found that the
allocation of capital to purchase machinery can be made as effective as possible with machinery being chosen on the basis of which one will give the beneficial productivity. The paper also identified poor selection and in efficient operation as factors partly responsible for the increase in machinery operation. The study recommended among other things that the selection of farm machinery for agricultural production should be area specific due to ecological conditions and also based on the type of farm enterprise.