Risk Adjusted Production Efficiency of Maize Farmers in Ethiopia: Implication for Improved Maize Varieties Adoption

Authors

  • Sisay Diriba Lemessa Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6966-7001
  • Molla Alemayehu Yismawu Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics, department of Economics
  • Megersa Debela Daksa Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics, department of Economics
  • Mulugeta Damie Watabaji Haramaya Universoty, College of Agricultural Economics and environmental sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v5i9.1099-1107.1339

Keywords:

Technical efficiency, production risk, maize farms, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study analyzes the technical efficiency and production risk of 862 maize farmers in major maize producing regions of Ethiopia. It employs the stochastic frontier approach (SFA) to estimate the level of technical efficiencies of stallholder farmers. The stochastic frontier approach (SFA) uses flexible risk properties to account for production risk. Thus, maize production variability is assessed from two perspectives, the production risk and the technical efficiency. The study also attempts to determine the socio-economic and farm characteristics that influence technical efficiency of maize production in the study area. The findings of the study showed the existence of both production risk and technical inefficiency in maize production process. Input variables (amounts per hectare) such as fertilizer and labor positively influence maize output. The findings also show that farms in the study area exhibit decreasing returns to scale. Fertilizer and ox plough days reduce output risk while labor and improved seed increase output risk. The mean technical efficiency for maize farms is 48 percent. This study concludes that production risk and technical inefficiency prevents the maize farmers from realizing their frontier output. The best factors that improve the efficiency of the maize farmers in the study area include: frequency of extension contact, access to credit and use of intercropping. It was also realized that altitude and terracing in maize farms had influence on farmer efficiency.

Author Biographies

Sisay Diriba Lemessa, Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics

Sisay Diriba Lemessa is a researcher and lecturer of economics at Haramaya University with over 7 years of experiences. Specialized in Agricultural Economics, he mainly worked and publishes in the areas technology innovations, value chain, farmer cooperatives and impact evaluations. During the aforementioned tenure of his work at Haramaya University he has been involved in field survey for international projects like ISSD, CASCAP and other local projects. Sisay is a promoter and co-promoters of local projects like Dire Dawa food processing industry, Land management system, BATE evening market projects.

Molla Alemayehu Yismawu, Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics, department of Economics

Molla Alemayehu is a lecture in the College of Business and Economics at the Haramaya Univeristy, Ethiopia. He is also teaching staff of the Department of Economics of the same university. He holds Bachelor degree in Agricultural Economics from the then Alemaya University of Agriculture (AUA) and MSc degree in Agricultural Economics and Price Analysis from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India. Currently, he is a PhD student at Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies, specializing in Development Economics, The Netherlands. His areas of research interest are risk and production economics, innovation and farmers technology adoption, agricultural marketing and price analysis.

Megersa Debela Daksa, Haramaya University, College of Business and Economics, department of Economics

Megersa Debela is a lecturer of Economics at Haramaya University with over 5 years of experiences. Specialized in Development Economics, his research interest areas are intervention impact evaluations, poverty analysis, and enterprise innovation.

Mulugeta Damie Watabaji, Haramaya Universoty, College of Agricultural Economics and environmental sciences

Mulugeta D. Watabaji is as Assistant Professor of Agribusiness Value Chain Management in the College of Business and Economics at the Haramaya Univeristy, Ethiopia. He is also a teaching staff of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Value Chain Management at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science of the same university. He holds a Bachelor degree in Accounting and Finance and Master‘s of Business Administration (MBA) from the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and also obtained a PhD degree from the Division of Agri-food Marketing and Chain Management, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University, Belgium. His areas of research interest are agribusiness value chain management and innovation.

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Published

12.09.2017

How to Cite

Lemessa, S. D., Yismawu, M. A., Daksa, M. D., & Watabaji, M. D. (2017). Risk Adjusted Production Efficiency of Maize Farmers in Ethiopia: Implication for Improved Maize Varieties Adoption. Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology, 5(9), 1099–1107. https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v5i9.1099-1107.1339

Issue

Section

Agricultural Economics