Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T14:50:50.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of technical efficiency of potato farmers and effects of constraints on potato production in Northern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2020

Adino Andaregie  and
Tessema Astatkie Open the ORCID record for Tessema Astatkie [Opens in a new window]
Adino Andaregie
Affiliation:
College of Business and Economics, Injibara University, Injibara, Ethiopia
Tessema Astatkie*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, PO Box 550, Truro, Nova Scotia, B2N 5E3, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: astatkie@dal.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To improve the national average yield of potato in Ethiopia, which is very low as compared to its potential, factors that influence technical efficiency of potato production need to be determined. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of technical efficiency using a cross-sectional data collected from 368 randomly selected potato producers in Northern Ethiopia using a multi-stage sampling technique. The study employed Cobb–Douglas stochastic frontier model to get farm-level technical efficiency scores. Tobit model and principal component analysis were used to determine the factors that influence technical efficiency of farm households. The results revealed that chemical fertiliser, seed potato, plot size and labour are statistically significant factors that affect potato yield. The average technical efficiency score was estimated to be 75%; and education, experience, off-farm income, household size, membership in a farmers’ association, use of irrigation water, extension contact, use of improved seed, access to product market and weak coordination of stakeholders’ were significant factors influencing technical efficiency. The findings of the study suggest that there is a need for government intervention to create strong market linkage between producers and buyers and to give appropriate training to agricultural extension agents.

Keywords

Stochastic frontier modelTechnical efficiencyFarm householdsEthiopia
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 56 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 699 - 709
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abate, T.M., Dessie, A.B. and Mekie, T.M. (2019). Technical efficiency of smallholder farmers in red pepper production in North Gondar Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. Journal of Economic Structures 8, 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alam, A., Kobayashi, H., Matsumura, I., Ishida, A. and Mohamed, E. (2012a). Technical efficiency and its determinants in potato production: Evidence from Northern Areas in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. International Journal of Research in Management, Economics and Commerce 2, 1–17.Google Scholar
Alam, A., Kobayashi, H., Matsuda, T., Ishida, A., Matsumura, I. and Esham, M. (2012b). Stochastic frontier approach to measure technical efficiency of two irrigation systems in Gilgit district, Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment 10, 543–550.Google Scholar
Anang, B.T., Bäckman, S. and Sipiläinen, T. (2016). Agricultural microcredit and technical efficiency: The case of smallholder rice farmers in Northern Ghana. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics 117, 189–202.Google Scholar
Beshir, H. (2016). Technical efficiency measurement and their differential in wheat production: The case of smallholder farmers in South Wollo. International Journal of Economics, Business and Finance 4, 1–16.Google Scholar
Bogale, T. and Bogale, A. (2005). Technical efficiency of resource use in the production of irrigated potato: A study of farmers using modern and traditional irrigation schemes in Awi Zone, Ethiopia. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics 106, 59–79.Google Scholar
CSA (Central Statistical Agency) (2012). Report on Inter-Censual Population Survey. Population Survey, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Deressa, B., Garoma, D., Sekhara Reddy, O.C. and Alemu, B. (2017). Analysis of technical efficiency of potato (Solanum tuberosum) production: in the case of Welmera Districts, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 7, 43–56.Google Scholar
Dolisca, F. and Jolly, C.M. (2008). Technical efficiency of traditional and non-traditional crop production: A case study from Haiti. World Journal of Agricultural Sciences 4, 416–426.Google Scholar
Dube, A.K., Ozkan, B., Ayele, A., Idahe, D. and Aliye, A. (2018). Technical efficiency and profitability of potato production by smallholder farmers: The case of Dinsho District, Bale Zone of Ethiopia. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics 10, 225–235.Google Scholar
Esham, M. (2014). Technical efficiency and determinants of maize production by smallholder farmers in the Moneragala District of Sri Lanka. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5, 416–422.Google Scholar
FAOSTAT (Statistics Division for the Food and Agriculture Organization) (2019). Statistical data. Available at: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC (accessed 10 August 2019).Google Scholar
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations) (2008). International Year of the Potato. Available at: http://www.fao.org/potato-2008/en/ (accessed 14 August 2019).Google Scholar
Johnson, R.A. and Wichern, D.W. (2007). Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis. 6th Edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Jondrow, J., Lovell, C.K., Materov, I.S. and Schmidt, P. (1982). On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model. Journal of Econometrics 19, 233–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jote, A., Feleke, S., Tufa, A., Manyong, V. and Lemma, T. (2018). Assessing the efficiency of sweet potato producers in the Southern Region of Ethiopia. Experimental Agriculture 54, 491–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, H.F. (1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement 20, 141–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ketema, M., Kebede, D., Dechassa, N. and Hundessa, F. (2016). Determinants of adoption of potato production technology package by smallholder farmers: Evidences from Eastern Ethiopia. Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics 19, 61–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitila, G.M. and Alemu, B.A. (2014). Analysis of technical efficiency of small holder maize growing farmers of Horo Guduru Wollega zone, Ethiopia: A stochastic frontier approach. Science, Technology and Arts Research Journal 3, 204–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krejcie, R.V. and Morgan, D.W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement 30, 607–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutaladio, N., Ortiz, O. and Caldiz, D. (2009). Sustainable Potato Production: Guidelines for Developing Countries. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.Google Scholar
Maganga, A.M. (2012). Technical efficiency and its determinants in Irish potato production: Evidence from Dedza District, Central Malawi. African Journal of Agricultural Research 7, 1794–1799.Google Scholar
Mango, N., Makate, C., Hanyani-Mlambo, B., Siziba, S. and Lundy, M. (2015). A stochastic frontier analysis of technical efficiency in smallholder maize production in Zimbabwe: The post-past-track land reform outlook. Cogent Economics and Finance 3, 1117189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okoye, B.C., Abass, A., Bachwenkizi, B., Asumugha, G., Alenkhe, B., Ranaivoson, R., Randrianarivalo, R., Rabemanantsoa, N. and Ralimanana, I. (2016). Differentials in technical efficiency among smallholder cassava farmers in Central Madagascar: A Cobb Douglas stochastic frontier production approach. Cogent Economics and Finance 4, 1143345.Google Scholar
Olubukola, E., Olayemi, S.O.O., Adewale, F.I. and Silvester, O.O. (2017). Determinants of technical efficiency and income inequality of food vending as a family business in Southwest Nigeria. Global Business Review 18, 1412–1423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seyoum, E.T., Battese, G.E. and Fleming, E.M. (1998). Technical efficiency and productivity of maize producers in eastern Ethiopia: A study of farmers within and outside the Sasakawa-Global 2000 Project. Agricultural Economics 19, 341–348.Google Scholar
Sharma, S. (1996). Applied Multivariate Techniques. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.Google Scholar
Solís, D., Bravo-Ureta, B.E. and Quiroga, R.E. (2009). Technical efficiency among peasant farmers participating in natural resources management programs in Central America. Journal of Agricultural Economics 60, 202–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipi, T., Yildiz, N., Nargeleçekenler, M. and Çetin, B. (2009). Measuring the technical efficiency and determinants of efficiency of rice farms in Marmara region, Turkey. New Zealand Journal of crop and Horticultural Science 37, 121–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiruneh, W.G., Chindi, A. and Woldegiorgis, G. (2017). Technical efficiency determinants of potato production: A study of rain-fed and irrigated smallholder farmers in Welmera district, Oromia, Ethiopia. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 9, 217–223.Google Scholar
Tobin, J. (1958). Estimation of relationships for limited dependent variables. Econometrics 26, 24–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wassihun, A.N., Koye, T.D. and Koye, A.D. (2019). Analysis of technical efficiency of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Production in Chilga District, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Journal of Economic Structures 8, 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar