Partial Economic analysis of Irish Potato Productio n under the Kebbi State Agroecological Conditions
Field trials were conducted during the 2009 12 dry seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology located at Jega in the Sudan savannah zone of Nigeria The aim was to evaluate the yield performance of three Irish potat o Solanum tuberosum L. varieties and the economics of production under different irrigation intervals and NPK rates in the study area. Treatments consisted of three ir rigation intervals (3, 6 and 9 days) four rates of NPK (20:10:10) fertilize r (0, 300, 600 and 900 kg NPK ha 1 and three varieties of potato (Bertita, Diamant and Nicola) Factorial combinat ions of irrigation intervals and fertilizer rates w ere allocated to the main plots, while varieties were assigned to the su b plots in a split plot design, replicated three ti mes. The size of each sub plot was 4.5 x 3m (13.5m) Result of the cost b enefit analysis revealed that the revenue per naira invested (RNI) was highest when 600 kg NPK ha 1 was applied under 6 days irrigation interval (N 5.45) followed by 900 kg NPK ha 1 under 6 days irrigation interval (N 5.24) while the least RNI (N 2.44) was by the untreated control under 3 days irr igation schedule. From the result of this study, the use of 600 kg NPK ha 1 under 6 days irrigation scheduling proved best for high