ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some insights into the cost and benefits as well as external influences in market gardening, and into the economic considerations involved in household consumption. Market gardening in the Jos-Bukuru area has significant economic potential. Gardening takes place in open spaces and on idle land, both within the urban area and at the urban fringe. One of the most basic tests of economic operation is that of the efficiency level. The issue of technical and economic efficiency of the peasant farmer is a complex one. The distinguishing feature of dry-season agriculture lies in the pivotal role of household labour which is difficult to calculate in terms of market wage rates, profits or losses. The success of market gardening activities, to a large extent, depends on the availability of capital to the gardeners. The gardeners are making the best out of the available resources, regardless of their farming constraints, to meet the growing market demand for crops and vegetables.
