Profitability of Soybean Production by Small Holder Farmers in Nigeria, Impact of an Agricultural Programme Zamfara State Nigeria

The study assessed the costs and returns in soybean production among small -scale farmers an impact of the Zamfara comprehensive agricultural revolution progr am (ZACAREP) in the Zamfara state of Nigeria. The multi -stage sampling procedure was used to select 600 soybean fa rmers. Four Local Governments, namely: Bungudu, Mar u, Gusau, and Tsafe were purposively selected out of the fourt een local government areas of the state, because of their high concentration of soybean production. Respondents were then randomly selected from each of the local gove rnment, based on the proportion of each local government’s soybea n f rming population that provide data for the anal ysis Data were collected from the respondents through the administ ration of well -structured questionnaire. The data c ollected were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis. There was a significant difference between participation on cost; ( ₦66978.9) and a non-participation farmers ( ₦36,232.7), while the return indicated ₦146, 221.1 and ₦41,337.9. Due to technologies adoption, the partici pat ng farmers’ average yield was 1601 – 1800kg per h ctare and non-participating farmer was 1201 – 1400kg per hecta re. The major constraints were high cost and late su pply of inputs, lack of access to loan by women and few female exten sion agents. It is recommended that government shou ld; strengthened technology advocacy to increase farmer s participation in the programme. Empower farmers wit h the skills essential for agricultural activities and frequency of contact between extension staff and farmers shou ld be explored to make efficient and effective service delivery.