Analysis of levels and determinants of technical efficiency of wheat producing farmers in Ethiopia

Abstract

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in Ethiopia, ranking fourth in total cereals production (16%) next to maize, sorghum and teff. Despite its potential for wheat grain production, Ethiopia falls short of being self-sufficient in wheat, and is currently a net importer of wheat grain. This study examines levels of and determinants of technical efficiency of wheat producing farmers in Ethiopia. Data was collected from 2017 farm households from the four major wheat growing regions of Ethiopia where around 85% of the country wheat production comes from. Cobb-Douglas functional model were used to analyze level of technical efficiency whereas quantile regression (QR) technique were employed to analyze factors that affect technical efficiency. The study indicated the average efficiency level of wheat producing farmers is 0.66 implying the huge potential to increase wheat production given the existing technological level and without any additional investment in agricultural research. Several institutional, socioeconomic and biophysical and agro ecological factors affect technical efficiency in wheat production in Ethiopia.

Determinants of Adoption of Wheat Production Technology Package by Smallholder Farmers: Evidences from Eastern Ethiopia

“…This result is congruent with the study by Hailu (2008) and Asfaw et al (2012). Similarly, Hagos (2016) and Kaleb and Workneh (2016) found a positive influence of age on agricultural technology adoption in general. On the other hand, Bingxin et al (2011), Asfaw et al (2011), Hailu et al (2014 and Jaleta et al (2015) found a negative influence of age on adoption of technology confirming the younger age groups are adopters compared to their counterpart, the elders.…”

Economic Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Wheat Production: The Case of Abuna Gindeberet District, Western Ethiopia

“…Hypothesis tests that cannot be applied in nonparametric models, are possible in stochastic production frontier model. Different hypothesis tests were made for this study by using the likelihood ratio (LR) test given by Equation (11) following Greene (2003).…”

“…Hence, improvement in the level of efficiency will increase productivity by enabling farmers to produce the maximum possible output from a given level of inputs with the existing level of technology Many researchers, in different sectors, have done many efficiency estimation studies in Ethiopia. However, the majority of farm efficiency studies are limited to technical efficiency (Fekadu and Bezabih, 2008;Yami et al, 2013;Beshir, 2016;Kelemu and Negatu, 2016;Assefa, 2016;Tiruneh and Geta, 2016). But, focusing only on technical efficiency (TE) understates the benefits that could be derived by producers from improvements in overall performance.…”

Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia

“…Eventually, it is predicted that the use of mobile phones will impact the behavior pattern of farmers, facilitating the adoption of improved practices leading to higher yields [33]. While a few recent studies [26,34] have conceptually discussed how mobile phones could translate to higher crop productivity, empirical evidence is scarce.…”