ANALYSIS OF RISK ATTITUDE OF CEREAL/LEGUME FARMERS IN NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

This study describes the socio-economic characteristics of the cereal/legume farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, identify risk associated with cereal/legume enterprises; determine the risk attitude of the farmers and identify the management strategies employed in minimizing risk associated with cereal/legume enterprise in the study area. Multistage sampling technique was used for the selection of two Local Government Areas (LGAs) from each of the three agricultural zones I, II, and III, respectively. Farming communities was randomly selected from each of the sampled LGAs from which respondents were proportionately selected to make a total of 105 respondents for this study. Primary data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and interview schedule. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics, Safety-first and factor analysis. The result showed that the mean age of the farmers was 40 years, 78.1% of respondents were male and a82.9% of them were married. The result from safety first approach revealed that 27.6% and 61.0% of the farmers were risk averse and risk neutral respectively. Production, Financial and human (theft, bush burning) risks form 31.4%, 34.3% and 8.6% of all risks associated with cereal/legume enterprises respectively. Factor analysis result indicated that Spreading sales, family member working off-farm and early planting of crops were employed for managing the risks. It is recommended that Government in conjunction with the donor agencies should make provision for interest free credit facilities at the appropriate time to enable them take as much risk as possible to increase their Cereal/Legume production.