Comparative Technical Efficiency of Maize Production Technologies in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

In terms of area cultivated and level of output, maize is the third most important cereal crop in Nigeria after guinea corn and millet. Apart from its importance for human consumption, the use of Maize as a major raw material in livestock feeds production and its increasing domestic uses makes its local supply to lack behind its demand. Thus, this study was aimed at determining and comparing the technical efficiency of maize production under different production technologies and across the study areas with the view to identifying the most technically efficient type of technology in South-Western Nigeria. Data collected from a cross-sectional survey of 311 maize farmers randomly selected from Ondo and Oyo states were analyzed using stochastic frontier production function and analysis of variance. Results showed that the pooled maize farmers used three types of production technologies: traditional technology (TRATEC), improved technology (IMPTEC) and semi improved technology (SEITEC). With the computed values of goodness of fit as 0.13, 0.77 and 0.39 for TRACTEC, IMPTEC and SEITEC respectively each of the models was significantly different from zero at 5.0%.  the maximum likelihood estimates having quantities of seed planted; labour, fertilizer usage; amount spent on herbicides; contact with extension workers and farm size as regressors influenced the level of maize output under the different technology types. In addition, results of technical inefficiency effects showed that age, years of schooling, household size and farming experience influenced the level of technical inefficiency in all the production technologies. TRACTEC was the most technically efficient – having mean technical efficiency of 0.93 followed by SEITEC (0.69) and IMPTEC (0.65). With mean technical efficiency values of 0.75 and 0.62 for TRACTEC and IMPTEC respectively, Oyo state maize farmers were found to be more efficient than their Ondo state counterparts who had mean technical efficiency values of 0.72 and 0.64 respectively for the same technology types.