Analysis on Technical Efficiency of Hybrid Maize Production in District Mirpurkhas, Sindh

Abstract

In order to analyze the technical efficiency of hybrid maize production in Mirpurkhas district of Sindh province, asurvey was carried out during the year 2014-15. Empirical model for the total production of maize on farms was usedand approximated by Cobb-Douglas production function involving various production associated factors.Technical efficiency for maize farms in sample area was 0.48 and most of the farms were technical inefficient below0.50. The values of overall technical efficiency maize farmers ranged from 0.177 to 0.980. This implies that there issignificant scope to increase efficiency levels. The frequencies of technical efficiencies indicated that sample farmerswere categorized in three efficiency groups with low (<90%), medium (90-95%) and high (>95%) efficiency andassessed that 90 percent of the maize farms had low efficiency (<90%) and remaining 10 percent were highlyefficient (above 95%) in district Mirpurkhas. The poor technical efficiencies imply that the soil quality, inadequatecanal water, insect pest and poor extension services could be the causes of this low efficiency. There is significantscope to increase efficiency levels and extension services should be used to increase the technical efficiencies of theinefficient farms. A decline in overall technical efficiencies may be due to a complex of factors and increase in therate of diffusion of technology and optimal farm management practices encouraged by extension services andprograms should increase the technical efficiencies of the inefficient farms in the study area.