ABSTRACT

The study examined the economic analysis of melon production in Imo state of Nigeria. To fulfill the objective, a well structured questionnaire was administered to melon farmers in one agricultural zone out of the 3 which was Owerri. Data was collected from 40 melon farmers in the area. In analyzing the data collected, descriptive analysis was used for socioeconomic characteristics and constraints affecting melon farmers net farm income analysis was used for the profitability of melon production and the ordinary least square regression analysis was used for the production function for melon in the study area. The descriptive statistics shows that the melon farmers are male who are within the age of 31-40 years who are married, educated and have large household sizes. The profitability analysis show that output per ha was 1,086.2 (1.08t). The total value of production was N52,3 76.00 at N480.00 per Kg. Variable cost of production was N307,310.00 while total cost was N314,492.45. Labour constituted about 91.62% of TVC of production and this implies that production is labour intensive. The result of the ordinary least square regression analyses showed that the coefficient for farm size and fertilizer use were positively signed and significant at 10%. The coefficient for capital inputs was also positively signed and significant at 5%.The result for the constraints shows that the major problems that the farmer encounter in production are credit (8 7.50%), cost of inputs (82,50%) and high cost of labour (7500%) The results call for policies aimed at land reform to make more land available, subsidizing farm inputs especially fertilizer as well as encourage farmers to produce more melon since it is profitable.