Determinants of technical efficiency differentials amongst small- and medium-scale farmers in Uganda: A case of tobacco growers
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Date
2006-10-04
Authors
Obwona, Marios
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research consortium
Abstract
It is argued that technical efficiency is determined by individual farm- and farmer-specific
characteristics. Such characteristics may be divided into two groups – demographic
characteristics, which dominate the decision making process of the farmer, and socioeconomic and institutional characteristics, which influence a farmer’s capacity to apply
the decisions at the farm level. The principal objectives of this study are to explore the
potential for improving production efficiencies of farmers and to identify factors that
influence such efficiencies.
The study uses cross-section data from a sample of 65 small- and medium-scale
farmers. A stochastic production frontier approach is used to estimate the farmer-specific
technical efficiencies. The estimated efficiencies are then explained by socioeconomic
and demographic factors.
It is shown that education, credit accessibility and extension services contribute
positively towards the improvement of efficiency. These results therefore suggest that if
more resources are invested in extension services, the availability of credit is improved
and there is less fragmentation of land, then there will be an improvement in technical
efficiency of farmers in Uganda.