ON-FARM ASSESSMENT OF THE AGRONOMIC AND ECONOMIC POTENTIALS OF SELECTED MAIZE HYBRID IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was carried out in all the agroecological zones (AEZs) in southwestern, Nigeria using a farmer’s participatory approach to compare the cost of growing hybrid maize varieties with that of the open-pollinated varieties. Four farmers growing maize were selected from each zone to make a community group. Farmers selected were used as replicates per location. Two maize hybrid and two open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) were supplied to farmers. Experimental sites were ploughed twice and planting was done on a plot with dimensions 5 by 10. Soil samples were taken across the farmer’s field and routine analysis was carried out on the collected samples. Results revealed that hybrid, SC 719 had the highest yield of 6670.73 kg/ha, followed by Ife-hyb-3 hybrid (5431.94 kg/ha) and the OPV (DMRLSRY) has the lowest varietal mean of 3716.01 kg/ha in the study area.   The economic analysis result showed that the OPVs (DMRLSRY and BR9928-DMR-SR-Y) gave a lower net benefit of N370,881.8 and N502,728, respectively compared with N663,580 and N886,732 from Ife-hyb-3 and SC 719, respectively. This implies that across all agroecologies in Southwest Nigeria, hybrid SC 719 would give the highest economic benefit to farmers followed by Ife-hyb-3 thereby improving farmers’ livelihood. From the results, there was an establishment of a greater economic potential of hybrid maize over maize OPVs under the same recommended agronomic practices in southwestern Nigeria. Hence, hybrid maize cultivation is highly profitable in southwestern Nigeria.