Technical efficiency of smallholders’ traditional African vegetable production in Tanzania: a stochastic frontier approach

Abstract

Traditional African vegetables are receiving more attention for their potential contribution to food and nutrition security and enhanced livelihoods for smallholder producers. Although demand is increasing for these nutrient-dense crops, the productivity of traditional vegetables in Tanzania remains low. Technical innovations can reduce yield gaps and increase the productivity of traditional vegetable crops. This paper measures the technical efficiency of farm households that produce traditional vegetables in Tanzania using the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. Data was obtained through a survey of 181 households that cultivated traditional vegetables in five regions (Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam). The results show considerable levels of technical inefficiency in the production of traditional vegetables. Technical efficiency among farm households could be increased by 33% through the better use of available production resources. The test for equality of technical efficiency indicated that there were statistically significant differences in technical efficiency across farm size, with larger landholdings having higher observed values than smallholdings. Strengthening farmer associations to encourage knowledge sharing and enhancing the existing cluster approach to farming may help to improve technical efficiency.