Resource Productivity In Ornamental Plants Production In Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to analyze resource productivity in ornamental plants production within Jos metropolis of Nigeria. The study covered Jos North and Jos South local government areas. The specific objectives include: identifying the effect of socio-economic factors on resource productivity, determining costs and returns, and resource productivity in ornamental plants production. An extensive literature review was carried out to provide an indepth knowledge of the study. The cluster sampling procedure was used because the nurseries are located in clusters. Data was collected from the nursery owners. Six respondents from each cluster and five clusters from each local government area were selected using the simple random sampling method at each sampling stage. Each of the two local government areas was administered the 30 questionnaires making a total of 60 respondents. Results revealed that 60% of respondents were aged between 41 – 50, while 80% had some years of tertiary education. Also 60% of the respondents’ nurseries were less than a quarter of an acre. About 40% had horticulture as their primary occupation, while 40% and 20% had business and civil service respectively as their primary occupation. The ornamental plants producers made a net farm income of N351,196 per annum and a naira invested gave returns of N1.10. The regression analysis gave positive coefficients for labour, cuttings, pesticides, water, top soil and polythenes which were significant (P