ANALYSES OF PRODUCTIVITY AND TECHNICAL OF SAWMILL INDUSTRIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the productivity and technical efficiency of sawmill industry in Nigeria using the stochastic frontier production function analysis. A total of 86 sawmills were sampled in Ondo state using multi-stage sampling technique. Resuls showed that Nigerian sawmills were in three scale economies, that is, small, medium and large. The productivity estimates of three of the four variables involved in sawmill operations were efficiently allocated as confirmed by their positive elasticities of production, which were between zero and unity. However, the returns to scale (RTS) of 1.26 implied that sawmill operation was in the increasing RTS stage of the production function. The technical efficiency analysis showed that there was presence of technical efficiency in Nigerian sawmill operations. The technical efficiency varied significantly between 0.113 and 0.978 with a mean of 0.898. The technical efficiency was higher with medium/large scale sawmills and also
much better with sawmill operators without access to government reserved forests.