ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF APPEALS-SUPPORTED RICE, COCOA, AND BROILER ENTERPRISES IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study carried out an ―economic evaluation of rice, cocoa, and broiler production enterprises supported by the World Bank-assisted APPEALS project in Cross River State, Nigeria’’. Using a sample of 301 producer cooperatives, data were collected through questionnaires, records, and focus group discussions. Results from the study showed that, 82 percent of the enterprises had less than 3 employees. More than half of the enterprises had existed for over 11 years (50.4 percent). Among the average total cost incurred by these enterprises per hectare, labour cost accounted for 64.70 percent of the average total costs for rice. Similarly, for a batch of 500 broilers enterprises, the cost of feed accounted for 63.9 percent of the average total costs while for cocoa enterprises, rent on farm accounted for 70.46 percent of the average total costs. The profit margin percentage of 25.3 %, 26.9 % and 38.5% was obtained for rice, broiler and cocoa production enterprises respectively, while the rates of return on investment of 0.34, 0.63 and 0.37 for rice, cocoa and broilers were realized. This implies that for every one naira invested across the production of these three commodities, benefits of ₦ 0.34, ₦ 0.63 and ₦ 0.37 were achieved confirming the profitability of APPEALS-supported agribusinesses.