162 Estimation of Cost and Return of Plantain Production in Orhionwon Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria Kaine, A. I. N. and L. J. D. Okoje Department of Economics, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State, Nigeria Abstract The study examined the cost and return of plantain production in Orhionmwon Local Government Area, Edo State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 40 plantain farmers from two clans in the study area. Data required for the study were generated using questionnaire and interview schedule. Information generated was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, t-ratio statistic and likert scale method. The finding shows that plantain production is a very profitable enterprise and that for every one naira invested in plantain production, there is a return on investment of about N12.60 kobo. The result shows that the farmers are relatively young with majority (90 percent) below 54 years of age. About 45 percent of farmers acquired formal education. The study indicates that both male and female were engaged in plantain production enterprise. Total cost of production was N37, 983 with the variable cost item as the major component while the fixed cost was (3,934). There was a net profit of N36, 421.70. The result also shows that plantain production is affected by farm size and also that output is corrected to farm size too. Keywords: Production, cost, returns, profitability, plantain and liker scaling method Introduction 1 Plantain belongs to the family Musaceace and the genus Musa. It is a perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to a group of shrubs 2 to 9m tall with an underground rhizome or corm. It strives on a wide range of tropical and sub-tropical climate. Plantain requires an optimum temperature of 30 0 C. Mean monthly rainfall of 100mm, p H of 4.5 to 7.5 and sandy loam soils (Oluwatosin 2003). Swennen (1990) observed that plantain is an important food crops in the Sub-Sahara Corresponding author’s Name: Kaine, A. I. N. Email address: kainatonne@yahoo.com Afric, providing more than 25% of the carbohydrate and 10% of the calories of approximately ten million people in the region. Frison and Sharrok, (1990) observed that banana and plantain play vital role in the feeding systems of both human beings and farm animals. It has a high nutritional value. It is a source of dietary carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. Plantains are extremely rich in vitamins A. CBN (2003), observed that plantain is one of the major stable food in Nigeria. It has the highest percentage increase in output over the years 1999 to 2003, implying the existence of market potential but increased productivity in the market potential in the country. Nigeria is one of the largest plantain producing countries in the world (FOA, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development journal homepage: http://aessweb.com/journal-detail.php?id=5005