Comparative Analysis of Direct Seeded and Transplanted Rice Yields in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Comparative analysis of transplanted and direct seeded rice in Ebonyi State, Nigeria was studied using multi-stage, simple random and purposive sampling techniques with the aid of structured questionnaires for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result showed that, for both transplanted and direct seeded method, most of the farmers were males and that they were within productive age range. The result further showed that approximately, 98% and 94% of transplanted and direct seeded rice farmers had one form of education or the other with average family size of 7 and 5 persons per household respectively. Again, the average farm size of the respondents was 2.5 and 2 hectares for transplanted and direct seeded rice farmers with average annual income of N334, 000 and N315, 000 respectively. Similarly, the study revealed that the major factors that influence the adoption of direct seeding and transplanting method of growing rice were finance, land, labour, yield, cost of production, lodging, time of maturity, technical know-how, weed and pest infestation. The study further revealed that, the average yield per hectare for transplanted rice was 1.9tons and 1.6tons for direct seeded rice, indicating higher yield with transplanted rice.  In similar way, there was a higher gross margin and profit of N132,850 and N81,550 under transplanted rice as against N119,850 and N69,250 for direct seeded rice respectively, meanwhile, return on investment was the same (1.34) for both direct seeded and transplanted rice. Transplanted and directed seed rice was profitable in the study area, and recommended government attention in Ebonyi state to boost rice production.