Abstract
Cashew was introduced in the north of Côte d’Ivoire to support the economy in the region. This study was conducted to evaluate the technical efficiency of cashew farms in Côte d’Ivoire. The technical efficiency of producers was measured using the Data Envelopment Analysis approach, and the determinants of this efficiency were identified using a TOBIT model. Data were collected in 4 regions: GBEKE, HAMBOL, PORO and WORODOUGOU. In the four regions studied, the average technical efficiency is 49.2% in Variable Scale Efficiency (VRS) and 38.3% in Constant Return to Scale (CRS). Based on our results, the producers in the study area were not efficient. The producers who follow the good practices, have a technical coefficient estimated at 74.2%, and superior to those who follow the good practices, of which, the coefficient is estimated at 70.2%, in Variable Scale Efficiency (VRS). The technical efficiency of farms was positively influenced by the age of farms and agricultural advisory services, and negatively influenced by the pruning practice. Income from cashew farming in the study area (21,816 to 37,987 CFAF/person/year according to region) is below extreme poverty line (CFA F 122,385/year/person), leading to deteriorating cashew/food terms of trade. Cashew farming is often used as a means of land appropriation and of getting credit. Its rapid expansion has dramatically reduced land for subsistence agriculture, raising an accute food security issue. Cashew farming has helped improve poverty indicators through macroeconomic policy. However, this impetus from the agricultural sector economy remains insufficient to boost the modernization of the agricultural sector. The country still has all assets (research institutes, schools of agronomy, skills etc.) to reverse this situation. Hence the he study recommends that producers capitalize on exogenous variables which can improve agricultural efficiency. It also recommends coaching organizations to use technical efficiency measurement and identification of effectiveness determinants to better guide their coaching. As for the Government, it should redouble efforts to implement the recommended solutions in order to avoid producer impoverishment, a barrier to harmonious development in this region of Côte d’Ivoire.
Highlights
Since independence, Côte d’Ivoire has built its economic development on agriculture
The results showed that the average technical efficiency under the variable scale yield is 72.6% and that 46.5% of the sample are technically efficient under variable scale yield
This is in line with our expectations because producers who are provided with agricultural advisory service receive more information and more pragmatic guidelines to improve their production. This positive correlation is explained by the fact that good practices improve agronomic conditions for good production
Summary
Cashew was introduced for ecological functions (fight against bush fires, land degradation due to deforestation, and the advancing desert) in the northern region of the country in the 1970s. Since 1994, it has played an economic function with an international economic climate conducive to cashew marketing. This new cash crop, first used as a means of diversifying the incomes of northern people in order to fight against poverty, gradually became a substitute for cotton, which was doubly affected by the disintegration of the sector nationwide and by the steady decline in production prices. Production rose from 500 t in 1980 to 711,000 t in 2018, making Côte d’Ivoire the world’s leading producer and exporter of raw nuts ahead of India and jas.ccsenet.org
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