Abstract
This study used the stochastic frontier model to examine the technical, allocative and economic efficiency of maize production in northern Ghana using cross-sectional data for the 2011/2012 cropping season. Conventional inputs such as farm size, seed, fertilizer, labour and weedicides were statistically significant and had positive effects on maize output in northern Ghana using the Cobb-Douglas functional form. The mean estimates were 85.1%, 87.8% and 74.7% for technical, allocative and economic efficiencies respectively. Largely, maize production in the study area exhibited increasing returns to scale. The determinants of technical inefficiency were experience, agricultural extension service and gender. Farmers with many years of experience in maize production were more technically efficient and opportunities that bring the less experienced farmers to tap the accumulated knowledge of the more experienced ones would improve maize production. Farmers who had access to agricultural extension services were more technically efficient than those who did not have access and strengthening the extension service would further enable them improve on their technical efficiency. Male farmers were more technically efficient than females in maize cultivation and efforts that stress gender equality as regards access to economic resources, information and decision-making would help narrow this gap. There is allocative inefficiency relative to all the production inputs under the prevailing prices. Land, seed and weedicides would be allocatively efficient by increasing their use by 26.6%, 10.52% and 39.9% respectively. Fertilizer and labour are currently being over-used and requires 82.8% and 94.5% reductions respectively to reach their allocatively efficient points. Keywords : Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Technical Efficiency, Allocative Efficiency, Economic Efficiency, Maize, Northern Ghana An Errata has been published for this article in vol 14 (2) 2017. You can find the link to this Errata here: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjds/article/view/162547 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/ 10.4314/gjds.v14i2.16
Highlights
Almost all of Africa’s poor rural population to a large extent depends on farming, and for that matter agricultural growth should be a core component of any development strategy that aims at reducing poverty and hunger in Africa (Thirtle et al, 2003)
Other common problems faced by farming households which are detrimental to agricultural productivity include long distances to input markets, bad road networks and attempts made at addressing these constraints will enhance maize production
The discrepancy between household size and household labour has implications for farm labour especially in northern Ghana where household heads rely on their households to provide labour for almost all of their crop production activities and when it was not sufficient, hired labour was sought
Summary
Almost all of Africa’s poor rural population to a large extent depends on farming, and for that matter agricultural growth should be a core component of any development strategy that aims at reducing poverty and hunger in Africa (Thirtle et al, 2003). The introduction of output enhancing technologies such as improved seeds for cereals like maize, and use of agrochemicals raised agriculture productivity and transformed it into a modern sector in Asia. According to Smith et al (1997) and FAO (2006), maize is one of the staple foods of communities in the drought prone countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where over 650 million people consume annually an average of 43kg of maize/person. The demand for maize for food, animal feed, and industrial use is increasing rapidly due to population growth across the region. Increasing the productivity of maize cropping systems is strategically important for the food security and socioeconomic stability of these countries and the sub-region as a whole. Abdoulaye et al (2011) noted that more than 50% of all SSA countries assign more than half of the area planted to cereals to the production of maize only. Other common problems faced by farming households which are detrimental to agricultural productivity include long distances to input markets, bad road networks and attempts made at addressing these constraints will enhance maize production
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