An Analysis of the Financial Structure and Profitability of Rice Enterprise; The case of Adarice Project Participating farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Abstract:

In order to help local farmers improve on their rice production technique amongst other objectives, Adarice project adopted tlie participating farmers' scheme. Currently, the farmers engaged in rice production have reduced in number from one thousand in 1988 to three hundred and fourteen in 1998 rainy season with a lot of empty, uncultivated fields wasting away. Consequently, the study a~ialysed the financial structure and also ascertained the.profitability of the enterprise in order to determine whether they are the causes of the farmers' witiidrawal from further producrion or not. Broadly, the study was an analysis of the financial structure and profitability of rice enterprise of Adarice project participating farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. The s1)cc:il'ic objectives of tlie study were to describe tlie socio-economic characteristics of the participating farniers; a~ialyseth e financial structure of the participating farmers' rice producrio~i enteprise: ascertain the profitability of the enterprise during the pre-harvest ant! post-harvest periods; describe the management problems from the view points of the prqiect's officials and the participating farmers; and prof$kr recommendations based on tile study's filidings.The study area was Adarice pn!iecr ill UZO-uwani Local Ciover~iment Arril of Enugu State. The data required for tlie oQjectives (i) and (iv) were obtained by using two sets of stru.ctured questionnaire aclliiiriistered on both the project officials atid the participating farmers. For objectives (ii) ;11it1 (iii). tlie data for the period of study and wliicl~a re time-series were collected fro111t he financial records of rlie participati~lgf arrners.