Determinants of Technical Efficiency of Wheat Production in Ethiopia: A Review

Abstract

Wheat is the third most important cereal crop in the world after maize and rice. Previous studies have indicated that farm production and productivity can possibly be raised by allocating more area for production, by developing and adopting of new technologies, and/or by utilizing the available resources more efficiently. Increasing productivity through enhanced wheat production efficiency could be an important move towards food security. In Ethiopia wheat production levels and rates have been increasing due to the development and dissemination of improved wheat technologies. Despite these efforts by the government, smallholders’ wheat productivity has remained below potential. However, empirical studies conducted to estimate level of efficiencies and to identify its determining factors in wheat production which would guide policy makers in their efforts are sparse. The main objective of this review is assessing the determinants of technical efficiency in wheat production in Ethiopia. Educational level was an important determinant of differences in agricultural productivity among countries. In these review factors like sex, age, distance to all weather roads, livestock holding, group membership, farm size, farm fragmentation, tenure status and investment on fertilizers are identified as the key determinants of the technical efficiency of wheat production in Ethiopia. The frequency distribution of technical efficiency levels was not fairly distributed. The wheat farms were being operated below level of technical efficiency. This implies that a large number of wheat farms in the Ethiopia faced inefficiency problems.

Keywords: Wheat, Technical efficiency, Determinants, Ethiopia