Resources Use Efficiency of Irrigated Tomato Production of Small-scale Farmers

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe efficiency of agricultural resources use is a concern especially in the developing world where production is common on fragile lands and characterized by low productivity, small-scale subsistence farming, and acute susceptibility to changes in weather. There is a need for a better understanding of factors influencing variations in efficiency among smallholder farmers. This study was conducted with the aim of estimating technical and economic efficiencies of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) producing farmers and to identify factors affecting resources use efficiency. A sample of 179 tomato producers who can irrigate their crop were used. To estimate technical and economic efficiencies a Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was used; a Tobit model was used to analyze factors affecting tomato production under irrigation. Farmers producing tomato under irrigation were technically inefficient in using inputs of labor and seed and they were not cost efficient in using inputs of land, labor, seed, and fertilizer. Average levels of technical and economic efficiency of tomato farmers were 0.75 and 0.67, respectively. Degree of education, experience in tomato production, and application of pesticides were variables affecting technical and economic efficiencies positively. There are opportunities to optimize utilization of resources by tomato farmers.