Technical Efficiency Analysis of Barley Producing Farmers in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine Technical Efficiency level of smallholder barley production and also to investigate socioeconomic determinants explaining the variation in Technical Efficiency among smallholder barley farmers using 488 random sample farm households in Ethiopia. The study employed Maximum Likelihood estimation technique and Cobb Douglas Stochastic Frontier Model that is one of the most commonly used models in most empirical studies of agricultural production analysis. And the study found that a one % increase in the input level of oxen-days, plot size, seed, and man-days respectively produce a return of 0.17, 0.22, 0.36, and 0.17 % increase in output, keeping all other factors constant. This implies that increasing the utilization of most of the productive inputs enhance the barley production. It is also found that age, gender, education, compost use, soil fertility status of barley plots, slope of the barley plots and distance of farmlands from residence affect technical efficiency of barley producers in Ethiopia. In general, the results show that there is the possibility to enhance the average plot level barley yield by 156% through increasing producers TE under the prevailing production input and the same production condition. Therefore, the concerned agricultural bodies should work hard towards improving barley farmers’ technical efficiency in order to boost their productivity and production by optimizing the level of the inputs they are utilizing and by improving the aforementioned determinants.

Keywords:Technical efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Model, Barley, Ethiopia

DOI: 10.7176/DCS/13-4-01

Publication date:June 30^th 2023