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Allocative Efficiency of ‘Egusi’ Melon (Colocynthis citrullus lanatus) Production Inputs in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract Investigating the allocative efficiency of ‘egusi’ melon production inputs in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria, this study utilized information generated from 60 respondents selected by multistage random sampling technique. Cross sectional primary data were obtained through the administration of questionnaire to the respondents and their memory recall. The articulated data were analyzed by means of non-parametric and parametric statistics. Farmers in the area still produce “egusi’ melon because of its socio-economic and cultural values such as income generation, local soup preparation and weed suppressant in mixed crop farms. Results of data analysis implicated household size, cost of inputs and farm size as significant determinants of production output. Production output was also positively influenced by land, labour (family and hired), fertilizer, capital and seed inputs, but significantly determined by land and fertilizer inputs. More so, computed allocative efficiency values showed that land (1.14), fertilizer (17.44) and seed (1.76) inputs were under utilized, while family labour (0.64), hired labour (0.08) and capital (0.83) inputs were over utilized. The serious problems of melon production were lack of land, high cost of inputs and inadequate processing facilities. Government should subsidize cost of inputs especially fertilizers and provide cheap credit facilities in order to facilitate increase in productivity and sustainability of ‘egusi’ melon production in the area.