Abstract

Nnamdi Okeke

This study examined the gross margin and constraint to yam production in Osun State, Nigeria. Multistage, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 160 respondents for the study. Well structured questionnaires were administered to the respondents to obtain data. Descriptive statistics and gross margin analysis were used to analyze the data. Results revealed that majority (62.5%) were males, 90.3% were within the age range of 49 years and below, 58.3% were married, 70.9% had 6 - 20 years of farming experience and all the respondents had one form of formal education or the other. The enterprise was profitable based on the positive values of gross margin (N152,685,340), net farm income (N147,384,681) and net return on investment (0.92). Production was most seriously constrained by lack of capital, scarcity/ high cost of quality seed yams, high cost of labour, pests and diseases infestation and lack of modern technology. Yam farmer’s problems would be meliorated by the injection of more funds into agricultural production activities and the production of seed yams using