Economic Analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies in Maize Production in Smallholder Farming Systems

Abstract

Smallholder farmers who grow the staple maize crop rely mainly on rain-fed agricultural production, and yields are estimated to have decreased by over 50% largely due to climate change. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies, as adaptive strategies, are thus increasingly being promoted to overcome problems of declining agricultural productivity and reduced technical efficiency. This study analyzed profitability and profit efficiency in maize (Zea mays) production as a result of CSA technology adoption using cost-benefit analysis and stochastic profit frontier model. The study used data from a cross-sectional household survey of 386 households drawn from 4 districts in Mashonaland East province located in the northeastern part of Zimbabwe. Results from the cost-benefit analysis reveal that maize performs best under CSA technologies. The profit inefficiency model shows that extension contact, number of local traders, and adoption of CSA had significant negative coefficients indicating that as these variables increase, profit efficiency among maize-growing farmers increases. This implies that profit inefficiency in maize production can be reduced significantly with improvement in extension contact, access to farm gate/local markets, and adoption of CSA. The findings call for development practitioners to incorporate market linkages that bring buyers closer to the farmers, support for extension to be able to have frequent contacts with farmers, and promotion of CSA adoption.

Assessing the Impact of Better Cotton Production Initiatives Taken by Small Farmers in District Tando Allahyar, Sindh, Pakistan within the Context of the Circular Economy

“…The yield was high in Mirpur Khas. Mujeyi (2013) conducted study on cotton producing small farmers under agreement farming in Zimbabwe. He conducted relative price investigation using secondary data to identify form level returns and explore the impact of different contract structures on farmers' profit.…”