• Contact Us
    • Send Feedback
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    Whole Repository
    CollectionsIssue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject
    This Sub-collection
    Issue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject

    My Account

    Login

    Welcome to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Research Repository

    What would you like to view today?

    The technical and cost efficiencies of hybrid maize production in western Ethiopia

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    S05ArtAleneTechnicalNothomDev.PDF (953.9Kb)
    Date
    2005
    Author
    Alene, D.
    Hassan, R.
    Demeke, M.
    Type
    Journal Article
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Conventional farmer efficiency studies have addressed the question of whether possibilities exist for inexpensive gains in production through better use of traditional technology. The question of whether the production potentials of new seed technologies have been fully exploited by poor farmers has rarely been a concern. This paper uses a translog stochastic frontier and inefficiency model to analyze technical efficiency and the factors underlying efficiency differentials among a sample of hybrid maize producers in western Ethiopia. It also uses a dual cost frontier model to compute the cost efficiency of the sample farmers. The results revealed an average technical inefficiency of 25%, showing that farmers actually operate with substantial inefficiency under new technology. This suggests that a considerable maize yield potential remains to be exploited through better use of the technology. An average cost inefficiency of 39% was obtained from the dual model, indicating that farmers could raise the profitability of maize production by 39% by fully adjusting input use. In view of the prevailing high prices of fertilizer against very low price of maize, fertilizer cost inefficiencies among farmers were mainly due to the use of more, rather than less, fertilizer, and this indicates the divergence between economic and biological optimum arising from unfavorable input and output prices facing the farmers. Education, provision of input credit, land tenure, and timely availability of critical inputs are found to be important factors influencing the technical efficiency of maize farmers.
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/3356
    IITA Subjects
    Post-Harvesting Technology; Livelihoods; Markets; Agribusiness; Land Use; Domestic Trade; Farm Management; Farming Systems; Food Security; Handling, Transport, Storage And Protection Of Agricultural Products; Smallholder Farmers
    Agrovoc Terms
    Maize; Technology; Farmers; Fertilizers; Dual Cost Frontier; Technical Efficiency; Cost Efficiency
    Regions
    Africa; West Africa; Southern Africa; East Africa
    Countries
    Nigeria; South Africa; Ethiopia
    Collections
    • Journal and Journal Articles4127
    copyright © 2019  IITASpace. All rights reserved.
    IITA | Open Access Repository