Competitiveness of Pineapple Production in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Pineapple has encouraging potentials for economic development in the country. However, there are little empirical evidences on the Competitiveness and Effect of Government Policies on the commodity. The study therefore assessed the Competitiveness of Pineapple Production in Osun state, Nigeria. A Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 120 respondents within the study area. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). Results revealed that 58.3% of the producers used sucker technique in pineapple production while 46.2% used crown technique. PAM results revealed that the crown and sucker production techniques were privately (N550, 438/ha and N679, 138/ha) and socially profitable (N730, 228/ha and N841, 828/ha) with Sucker production technique having higher competitiveness. Nominal Protection on Input and Output and the Effective Protection Coefficients for the two production systems indicated presence of tax and the producers were not protected by policy. Subsidy Ratio to Producer (SRP) value obtained for crown (-0.16) and sucker (-0.14) techniques and Producer Subsidy Estimate (PSE) value of -0.18 was obtained for Crown and sucker (-0.15) techniques indicating pineapple producers’ income were transferred to consumers and taxpayers which further confirmed that Pineapple production was  taxed by policy. Sensitivity analysis indicated that increase in Free On Board (FOB) price; Farm gate price, Yield and Exchange rate at 20% improved Competitiveness and Comparative advantage of Pineapple production. The study recommends provision of incentive structures that will protect pineapple producers.

Key words: Pineapple, Production Techniques, Competitiveness, Policy Analysis Matrix, Osun state.