Source of technical inefficiency of smallholder wheat farmers in selected waterlogged areas of Ethiopia: A translog production function approach

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the technical inefficiency and factors affecting efficiency of wheat production in water-logged areas of Arsi-robe and Digelu-tijo districts of Arsi zone in southeastern Oromia region, Ethiopia. Both purposive and two-stage sampling techniques were used. Primary data was collected from 157 randomly selected wheat producing farmers through a structured questionnaire. The translog production function analysis revealed that the mean technical efficiency of wheat producers in the study areas in the season were 55%. Given the present state of technology and input level, the result of the study suggests that there is plenty of scope to increase the output of wheat commodity by up to 45%. Education, gender, fragmentation (number of wheat plots), and access to input and output markets have negative coefficients in the inefficiency model. In addition to this, the study indicates scaling up/out of best farmers’ practices in the use of recommended integrated soil, water and nutrient management practices is essential for improving the productivity of commercial wheat varieties grown under water-logged vertisols. Furthermore, sharing the benefits of improved technologies through informal education and field days in demonstration plots could be important possible interventions for obtaining maximum achievable wheat yield under the difficult growing conditions of water-logged vertisols in Ethiopia. Key words: Technical inefficiency, stochastic frontier, production function, wheat farmers, Vertisols.

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