labour-use and agricultural productivity: implication for rice farming in kwara state nigeria

farm labour productivity is a measure of efficiency with which labour is used on the farm for the production of specific farm products. however of recent there has been a constant decline in the supply of agricultural labour as a result of several factors among which are increased off-farm employment opportunities as a result of industrialization. it is therefore imperative to compare the level of productivity for hired and family labour particularly in rice production one of the crops for which nigeria is known to be a major importer. using survey data from kwara state nigeria, this article compares family and hired labour productivity in rice farming. the analytical tools used are the descriptive statistics, multinomial logit and production function analysis. the result showed that hired labour is more productive than family labour and was found to be significantly correlated with a negative coefficient. the household size, farming experience and wage rate are the factors found to significantly influence the type of labour used. while the farm size, quantity of fertilizer used and the type of labour used significantly influence productivity. the study therefore recommended that rice farmers be given improved access to credit facilities to help them cover the cost of wage rate. this will help them increase their productive capacity and thus improve food security among the rural households.