Sources of Technical Efficiency among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Southern Malawi
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Date
2007-11
Authors
Ephraim W. Chirwa
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AERC
Abstract
The agricultural sector in Malawi is vital to the economy for incomes and food security.
The sector accounts for 35% of national income, generates 90% of foreign exchange,
and provides paid and self-employment to 92% of the rural population. One constraint
in achieving food security has been the small size and fragmented nature of land holdings
among a large proportion of households in Malawi. Nonetheless, since independence
there have been several attempts by the government to improve the productivity of food
crops on small farms, particularly for maize, including the development of high yielding
maize varieties, subsidization of farm inputs, provision of credit facilities, and the
liberalization of both farm produce prices and farm produce marketing. While there
have been several studies on food production in Malawi, the focus has mainly been on
technology development and adoption, production constraints, the impact of structural
adjustment policies, and the impact of price and marketing liberalization. This paper
estimates technical efficiency among smallholder maize farmers in Malawi and identifies
sources of inefficiency using plot-level data. We find that smallholder maize farmers in
Malawi are inefficient; the average efficiency score is 46.23% and 79% of the plots
have efficiency scores below 70%. The results of the study reveal that inefficiency declines on plots planted with hybrid seeds and for those controlled by farmers who belong to households with membership in a farmers club or association.
Description
SB 191 . M2 C44 2007
Keywords
Corn - yields- malawi , Agricultural innovations- Malawi , Agriculture and state