October 21, 2020
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Garden egg production in Abia State is becoming increasing popular and profitable. This study therefore investigates the overall method of producing the crop, focusing on the socio-economic characteristic of producers as well as the production system adopted by them. Structured questionnaires were used in the survey of a total of 118 farmers. Generated data were analyzed using various descriptive statistics. Findings showed that 86% of respondent were male and almost 80% were between the ages of 20 and 40 years, while all of them were educated at least to the primary school level. About 60% of these farmers were in full time garden-egg production. Almost 80% of them had between one (1) to Ten (10) years of garden-egg production experience. All farmers produced a popular variety known as Nwga large or Miki Miki. Almost all the farmers planted on the flat. Finding further showed that most of the producers (90%) were small holders with less than two (2) hectares of the crop. Over 90% of farmers used fertilizer while 88.14% used agro-chemical. Majority of the farmers (67.8%) had extension services, 76% respondents sow their seeds during raining season while 20% grow the crop in both seasons. More than two-thirds (69.5%) farmers in the study area used borrowed monies from friends and relatives while the rest used personal funds. The constraints faced by the farmers were also discussed.