COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE COST AND RETURNS OF UTILIZING IMPROVED COCOA PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES BY FARMERS IN CROSS RIVER AND AKWA IBOM STATES, NIGERIA

The study comparatively assessed the cost and returns of utilizing improved cocoa production
technologies by farmers in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, Nigeria. A multi-stage and
purposive sampling technique were used to collect data for the study. A total of 240 cocoa
farmers who have utilized improved cocoa production technologies were used as sample size.
Data were collected from primary source using structured questionnaire and FGD and analyzed
using descriptive statistics, such as frequency distribution, percentages and mean. The
breakdown of the results of the cost and returns of utilizing improved cocoa production
technologies by farmers showed that Total Revenue from Cross River State (N2,022,900.84)
was higher than that of the Akwa Ibom State (N1,844, 517.13). Also, the Total Variable Cost
from Cross River State (N315, 107. 50) was higher than that of Akwa Ibom State (N319,927.88).
This therefore, brought the Total Fixed Cost (TFC) to N1,170,120.80 for Cross River State while
that of Akwa Ibom State was N1,490,555.80 and was higher than that of the Cross River State.
Therefore, the Net Farm Income (NI) generated from utilizing improved cocoa production
technologies in Cross River State was N537,672.54 per annum and for Akwa Ibom State (NI)
was N353,961.33 per annum. This brought the Gross Margin (GM) to N1,707,793.34 for Cross
River State and N1,524,589.25 for Akwa Ibom State. The Return on Investment (RNI) was 1.4
for Cross River State and was 1.2 for Akwa Ibom State, indicating that rural households in both
States were at breakeven though those from Cross River State was better off. The study
concluded that Cocoa enterprise is viable and therefore, recommended that Government should
encourage farmers to boost cocoa production with incentives and subsidies on farm inputs.