Determinants of the Production of Fluted Pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis) Among Farmers in Nigeria: Evidence from Lagos State

This study centered round the factors influencing the production of Telfaria among farmers in Nigeria. It relied on primary data collected from 100 farmers randomly selected from five production areas in the Ikorodu Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State. The analytical techniques used include descriptive statistics and a production function based on the Cobb-Douglas model. The analysis revealed that a majority of the farmers are male, married, aged between 21 and 40 years, and utilize both hired and family labour in the production of Telfaria. All of the farmers' land was acquired through tenancy and synthetic fertilizers are used. The regression analysis showed that the output of Telfaria is positively influenced by land area cultivated, family and hired labour, seed, and fertilizers. The scale coefficient revealed that the production of Telfaria is witnessing an increasing return to scale. The study suggests that the drudgery involved in farming must be removed, as there is no end to the farm labour shortage in the near future. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.