PROFITABILITY AND TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN HOMESTEAD CATFISH PRODUCTION IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the proftability and technical effciency in homestead catfsh production in the central agricultural zone of Delta State, Nigeria. Primary data were obtained from 162 homestead catfsh farmers with the aid of well-structured questionnaire, using multi-stage sampling procedure. Budgetary analysis and stochastic frontier production function were used to analyse the data. Catfsh production was found to be proftable with a net margin of 67.17/kg; net margin of 490.31 /m2 and a net margin-total cost ratio of 29%. Maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) results indicated that pond size, feeds, fngerlings and labour positively and signifcantly affected homestead catfsh output. The returns to scale (RTS) of 2.26 implied that the farm frms in the area exhibited increasing returns to scale. Technical effciency of catfsh farms ranged from 28% to 96% with an average of 87%. Observed ineffciency was due to age, education, credit access and household size.