scholarly journals Profitability and efficiency of cucumber production among smallholder farmers in Oyo state, Nigeria

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iyabo Adeoye ◽  
Olubunmi Balogun
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Education Status ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Gender Groups

Cucumber is one of the most important exotic vegetables in Nigeria. Its profile is rising due to widespread knowledge of its inherent health benefits. To sustain the availability of the crop in order to meet increasing demand, there is the need to enhance its productivity. Crop productivity depends on the efficient use of both material and human resources utilized in the production process. This study therefore examined profitability and efficiency of cucumber production in Iseyin local government area of Oyo state. Primary data on socioeconomic characteristics of farmers, input and output quantity and prices were collected from 73 cucumber farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and stochastic frontier. Majority of the farmers were male (96.7%) with average age of 46.4 years. An average of 17.1 years of farming experience cut across both gender groups. The average hectare was 1.5 with average yield of 5,368 kg/ha. Budgetary analysis revealed that net profit of N=239,440/ha, profit margin percentage of 55.8% and returns on every naira invested of 1.26 were obtained. This is an indication that cucumber production is profitable in the study area. The result of the stochastic frontier indicated that farm size and volume of agrochemical used significantly influenced cucumber production. Age, education status of farmers and access to credit were the significant factors determining technical efficiency of the farmers in the study area. Mean technical efficiency of production was 0.68. The study recommends capacity building for farmers on an appropriate combination of resources.

scholarly journals Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Tomato Production in Semi-Urban Farms in Cameroon: A Stochastic Frontier Production Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Paul Jr. Tabe-Ojong ◽  
Ernest L. Molua
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Tomato Production ◽  
Frontier Analysis

Agriculture is the mainstay of Cameroon’s economy as it serves the purposes of food, livelihood and employment. Nevertheless, the country’s agriculture is plagued by low productivity and inefficiency in production. One of the main reasons for low productivity is the inability of farmers to fully exploit available technologies and production techniques. An important research question that comes to mind is, what are the major factors that hinder the technical efficiency of smallholder farmers? This study thus aimed to determine the level of technical efficiency in the production of tomato in smallholder farms, relying on primary data collected using a structured survey instrument administered to 80 tomato farmers in the Buea municipality of Cameroon. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a stochastic frontier analysis method in the Cobb-Douglas production function. The STATA.14 software was used to obtain both stochastic frontier estimates and the determinants of technical efficiency. The results indicate that farmers are not fully technically efficient with a mean technical efficiency score of 0.68 with one farmer operating on the frontier. The study also revealed that most of the farmers irrespective of the size of the holdings have shown technical inefficiency problems. The older farmers were observed with the best measures of technical efficiency. Education, age and the adoption and practice of agronomic techniques had a positive and significant influence on technical efficiency while the nearest distance to the extension agent had a rather negative influence on technical efficiency. The input-output relationship showed that the area of tomato cultivation and the quantity of improved seed used were positive and significantly related to output at the 5% level of probability. As a result, it is recommended that farmers should increase their farm size, use of improved seeds and the adoption and practice of novel techniques in production. More emphasis should be placed on extension agents as they have a significant role to play in terms of improving and augmenting farmers’ education and information base through on farm demonstrations and result oriented workshops as all this will ensure increased production and productivity thereby increasing technical efficiency and achieving food self-sufficiency.

scholarly journals Agricultural Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Markose Chekol Zewdie ◽  
Michele Moretti ◽  
Daregot Berihun Tenessa ◽  
Zemen Ayalew Ayele ◽  
Jan Nyssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Approach ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

In the past decade, to improve crop production and productivity, Ethiopia has embarked on an ambitious irrigation farming expansion program and has introduced new large- and small-scale irrigation initiatives. However, in Ethiopia, poverty remains a challenge, and crop productivity per unit area of land is very low. Literature on the technical efficiency (TE) of large-scale and small-scale irrigation user farmers as compared to the non-user farmers in Ethiopia is also limited. Investigating smallholder farmers’ TE level and its principal determinants is very important to increase crop production and productivity and to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood and food security. Using 1026 household-level cross-section data, this study adopts a technology flexible stochastic frontier approach to examine agricultural TE of large-scale irrigation users, small-scale irrigation users and non-user farmers in Ethiopia. The results indicate that, due to poor extension services and old-style agronomic practices, the mean TE of farmers is very low (44.33%), implying that there is a wider room for increasing crop production in the study areas through increasing the TE of smallholder farmers without additional investment in novel agricultural technologies. Results also show that large-scale irrigation user farmers (21.05%) are less technically efficient than small-scale irrigation user farmers (60.29%). However, improving irrigation infrastructure shifts the frontier up and has a positive impact on smallholder farmers’ output.

scholarly journals Efficiency of Maize Production among Smallholder Farmers in Southwest, Nigeria

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Abdulaleem ◽  
F. M. Oluwatusin ◽  
O. S. Ojo
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Household Size ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Gross Margin ◽  
Average Output ◽  
Technical Inefficiency ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Southwest Nigeria

Maize is cereal crops commonly grown in Nigeria and it is a source of livelihood for many farming households. This study analyzed the resource use efficiency in maize production among smallholder farmers in southwest, Nigeria. A multistage sampling method was used to select two hundred and seventy (270) farmers for this study. Primary data were collected using well-structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and stochastic frontier production function were used as analytical tools. The results showed that the mean age of the farmers was 47.7 years. Most (76.3%) are males which were married (82.2%) with household size of 5.8. There is high (82.9%) level of literacy among the farmers. The average output of production was 5,038.25kg which were gotten from planting of improved maize seeds (88.5%). Maize cultivation is profitable enterprise because for every ₦1 invested, ₦1.74will be realized as gain. The Maximum Likelihood Estimate (MLE) results revealed that the technical efficiency of maize farmers varied due to the presence of technical inefficiency effects on maize production. Farm size (5%), quantity of fertilizer (10%) and capital input (1%) are the factors significantly affecting technical efficiency. Also, household size (5%), marital status (1%) and gender (10%) are the factors that significantly influence technical inefficiency. The explanatory variables can account for 66% of the total variations in the efficiencies of production, while 34% of the variations are given to error. Policies and programmes that focus on encouraging more young people and women to agriculture should be enacted and implemented.

scholarly journals Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Agriculture in Developing Countries: The Case of Ethiopia

Economies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Anbes Tenaye
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Production Function ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Average Output

The efficient use of inputs is indispensable in many developing countries, such as Ethiopia. This study assesses the level and determinants of technical efficiency of smallholder farmers using the true fixed effects (TFE) model. The TFE model separates inefficiency from unobserved heterogeneity. Empirical data come from four rounds of panel data (1994–2009) from the Ethiopian rural household survey (ERHS). A one-step maximum likelihood estimator was employed to estimate the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function and factors influencing technical efficiency. The results indicated that the major variables affecting technical efficiency are policy responsive, albeit to varying degrees: education of the household head, family size, farm size, land fragmentation, land quality, credit use, extension service, off-farm employment, and crop share. The analyses also identify variables amenable to policy changes in the production function: labor, traction power, farm size, seeds, and fertilizer. The mean household-level efficiency for the surveyed farmers is 0.59, indicating that farmers could improve technical efficiency. This implies that smallholder farms in Ethiopia can reduce the input requirement of producing the average output by 41% if their operations become technically efficient. This study recommends that the above policy variables be considered to make Ethiopian smallholder farmers more efficient.

scholarly journals Credit Constraint and Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Cassava Farmers in Osun State, Nigeria

Agricultura ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Ayodeji Damilola Kehinde ◽  
◽  
Muyiwa Sunday Olatidoye ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Sampling Procedure ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Model ◽  
Credit Constraint ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Cassava Production

This study investigated the effect of credit constraint on technical efficiency of smallholder cassava farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 200 smallholder cassava farmers using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier model. Results from the descriptive statistics showed that majority (81%) of the cassava farmers were male with the mean age of 44.1 (±14.9) years. About 86% of the respondents were married with mean household size of 6.9 (±3.5) persons. The results further revealed that 65% of the farmers were credit constrained. Results obtained from the stochastic frontier model showed that smallholder cassava farmers had an average technical efficiency of 73.6% in cassava production. The empirical results from the frontier model showed that man-day of labour significantly influence the technical efficiency of smallholder cassava farmers in Osun State. However, access to credit, amount of credit constrained and years of education were the major sources of technical inefficiencies among smallholder cassava farmers. The study concluded that majority of smallholder cassava farmers were credit constrained, as the amount of credit they received is not sufficient for their production which subsequently affected their technical efficiency. It was recommended that organizations giving agricultural credits to cassava farmers should enhance their credit services. This will assist smallholder cassava farmers to improve their technical efficiency.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY AMONG RICE FARMERS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Wasiu Olawale ADESHINA ◽  
Olugbenga Adesoji Christopher OLOGBON ◽  
Adewunmi Olubanjo IDOWU
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Allocative Efficiency ◽  
Maximum Likelihood Estimates ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Rice Farmers

Increased rice productivity for years is not a solution if rice farming efficiency cannot be sustained for the next hundred years. The study analysed the efficiency of rice farmers in Oyo State. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select128 rice farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained with the aid of well-structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier model were employed in the analysis of the data. Majority (78.1%) of the rice farmers had one form of education or the other while the age of rice farmers ranges from 25 to 78 years and mean age of 47 years. The stochastic frontier results (Maximum Likelihood Estimates) revealed that farm output increases with farm size, hired labour, and fertilizer but decreases with herbicides. Also, technical efficiency of the farmers increases with formal education, farming experience, household size, extension contact and distance of farm to market. The mean technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency of 88.5 percent, 66.9 percent and 58.3 percent respectively showed that there is room for improvement in technical efficiency by 11.5 percent, allocative efficiency by 33.1 percent and economic efficiency by 41.7 percent with the present technology. Policy option requires the rice farmers to reduce the use of agro chemical. Farmers should expand their farm land to ensure efficient utilization of resources. Above all, formal education and adult literacy education should be strengthened among the rice farmers.

scholarly journals Determinants of technical efficiency in cotton production in the southern cotton growing zone of Nigeria: A stochastic production frontier approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
pp. 58-63
Author(s):  
MUYIWA SUNDAY OLATIDOYE ◽  
TAIWO ALIMI ◽  
ADEBAYO AKINBOYE AKINOLA
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
Stochastic Production Frontier ◽  
Cotton Farmers

Abstract. Olatidoye MS, Alimi T, Akinola AA. 2018. Quality assessment of the physico-chemical properties of vermiwash produced from different sources during successive storage periods. Asian J Agric 2: 58-63. The study investigated on socio-economic factors and estimated the technical efficiency indices and factors influencing technical efficiency of the sampled cotton farmers in the Southern Cotton growing zone of Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select a total sample of 300 cotton farmers. The study made use of only primary data which was collected through the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier production parametric model. The results of the descriptive statistics showed that majority (83%) of the cotton farmers in the study area were males while the mean age of the respondents was 49 years. The average household size was 8 persons per household and majority (69%) of the respondents had formal education. Majority of the respondents (59%) had no access to credit facilities while majority (80.4%) of the cotton farmers had reasonable years of experience ranging between 11 and above in cotton production. Furthermore, the study found that the technical efficiency of the farmers range from 0.35 and 0.99 with a mean of 0.79. This indicates ample opportunity for farmers to increase their productivity through improvement in their technical efficiency. Seed, fertilizer, pesticides and farm size were found to be statistically significant and positively related to farmers’ output while education, credit, extension contact and farming experience of the respondents negatively influenced farmers’ technical inefficiency. The farmers therefore need to increase their output through more intensive use of seed, land, pesticides and fertilizers.

scholarly journals A Study on Relationship between Technical Efficiency and Climate Change Manifestations among Sesame Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
B. C. Asogwa ◽  
M. P. Nwalem ◽  
G. C. Aye
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Production Function ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Credit Access ◽  
Access To Credit

The present study aims to analyse the relationship between technical efficiency and the adverse effect of climate change manifestations among sesame farmers in Benue State, Nigeria. A combination of purposive and random sampling techniques was used to select 372 sesame producers. Data were analysed by using the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function and Spearman correlation. The stochastic production function showed that farm size, seed, fertilizer, agrochemical and family labour significantly affect sesame output. The study also showed that education, farming experience, household size, access to extension; access to credit, access to market and membership to farmer association were positively related to technical efficiency of sesame farmers. The result further showed that the average technical efficiency of sesame farmers was 0.53. The result also revealed that there is a significant negative relationship between the level of adverse effects of climate change manifestation and technical efficiency among sesame farmers in the study area. It was therefore recommended that readily available farming inputs and subsidies should be entrenched. Credit facility, extension services and good market access should be provided to farmers. Education, information and training of farmers to adapt to climate change by changing their farming practices such as bush burning, de-forestation, rain-fed agriculture and land tenure systems should be encouraged.

The impact of credit on the technical efficiency of food crop producing smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melkamu Girma Koricho ◽  
Musa Hasen Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Matching Technique ◽  
Single Production ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Production Characteristics

PurposeThis study examines the impact of access to credit on the technical efficiency (TE) of maize-producing smallholder farmers in Ethiopia and explores factors determining credit utilization.Design/methodology/approachThe study relies on nationally representative data collected in 2015/2016. The data are analyzed by combining the Propensity Score Matching technique with a stochastic frontier model that corrects selectivity bias arising from unobserved variables.FindingsThe result shows that credit service improves TE and helps smallholder farmers to achieve the maximum possible output level from a given set of inputs used.Originality/valueTo the best of author’s knowledge, no study has yet measured the impact of access to credit on TE by controlling for both observed and unobserved heterogeneities. Existing research relied on a single production frontier model, assuming that credit users and non-users have similar production characteristics or ignored selection bias due to observable and unobservable characteristics.

scholarly journals Technical Efficiency of Plantain Production in Ekiti Southwest Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1203-1213
Author(s):  
Rufus Sunday Owoeye ◽  
F. O. Osundare
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Local Government Area ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Pests And Diseases

This study examined the technical efficiency of plantain production in Ekiti Southwest Local Government Area (LGA) of Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study used multistage sampling techniques for data collection. Data were collected from 90 plantain farmers through well-structured questionnaires from the LGA with three towns purposively selected. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, budgetary analysis and stochastic frontier production model. Results from descriptive analysis showed that 48.88 percent of the plantain farmers had secondary education and above. Majority of the respondents (66.67 percent) had between 5 and 8 members that made up the household in the study area. Findings further showed that majority of the respondents produced on small scale with average plantain farm size of 0.96 hectares. The farmers were fairly experienced with 44.44 percent of them had more than 15 years of farming experience. With mean profit of ₦251,500 per hectare and percentage profit of 63.11 percent, the venture was considered to be highly profitable. Farmers who invested ₦1 realized revenue of ₦0.63. The RTS parameter (0.931) was obtained from the summation of the coefficients of the estimated inputs (elasticities) which indicated that plantain production in the study area was in Stage II of the production surface meaning that these variables were efficiently utilized. Depreciation, hired labour, family labour, farm size and quantity of suckers planted were the significant variables that influence efficiency of the plantain farmers. Age, land acquisition and access to credit contributed significantly to technical inefficiency. Among the most prevalent constraints were; price fluctuation (72.22%), heavy wind (70.00%), high cost of farm input (68.89%), pests and diseases and pilferage (63.33%) each, insufficient credit facility, storage facility and poor agricultural extension services (62.22%) respectively.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document