Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops in Nigerian agriculture. The crop occupies a crucial place than other cereal crops since it is used as food, feeds, fodder and other industrial raw material. The study analyzed the socio-economic characteristics of maize farmers and cost and returns per hectare. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select Ninety seven (97) maize producing farmers for the study. Data for the study were collected using structured questionnaires. The result of the analysis showed that the mean age for respondents was 46 years while more than half of them were literates. The major source of finance for the farmers was personal savings while the average land area cultivated was 2.6 hectares. The average gross margin analysis was estimated to be ₦7,228.71 per hectare indicating that maize production is profitable in the study area. Other economic indices were gross farm ratio obtained as 0.813, which indicates that the farmers got higher return/₦, also the operating ratio was 0.815 all pointing towards how profitable the venture in the study area.
