Competitiveness in rice production in Osun state, Nigeria: the policy analysis matrix approach

This study assessed the competitiveness of rice production under different varietal technologies in Osun State. A multistage sampling technique was adopted to select the respondents for the study. Both primary and secondary data, including prices of inputs and outputs, rice yields, import tariff, transportation cost, port loading and unloading charges and official exchange rate, foreign exchange premium, etc., were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) approach. The results revealed that effective protection coefficients (EPC) for the three identified rice varieties (Local, FARO53 and FARO54) were 0.89, 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. The Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) was 0.84, 0.48 and 0.48; the Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC) on tradable inputs and outputs was 0.89, 0.98 and 0.97; while the Social Cost Benefit (SCB) was 0.85, 0.52 and 0.52 for the three varietal technologies, respectively. The results indicate that rice farmers using the three varieties have a comparative advantage (DRC < 1) in rice production in the study area, and the two improved varieties provided a greater competitiveness. The study concluded that Osun State has a comparative advantage in rice production under the import parity prices regime which, however, is not true under the assumptions of export parity.