TITLE:
Analysis of the Technical Efficiency of Maize Farmers and its Influencing Factors in Ombella Mpoko, Central African Republic
AUTHORS:
Reakine Slim Ouaïmon Payang, Chaitor Poyearleng, Francine Josée Dérébona Ngaisset, Xianli Xia
KEYWORDS:
Maize, Efficiency, Factors, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Tobit Model, Central African Republic
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.7 No.2,
February
25,
2019
ABSTRACT: This work analyzes the technical efficiency of maize farmers and its influencing factors in Ombella Mpoko, Central African Republic, using the data from primary source of the farmers in the region of Boali and Damara. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, on farmers’ output of maize, inputs used in the production process (land, capital, labor, fertilizer and cuttings) on each plot, and the socio-economic and plot-specific characteristics. This included farmer’s age, level of education, household size, and farm size, membership in cooperative and producer organizations as well as other relevant variables. The study employed the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) Approach and the Tobit model. The result shows that socio-economic factors, environmental factors and physical and technical factors have a significant influence on maize production in study area. In other words, this shows that technical inefficiency effects do make a significant contribution to the level and variation of maize production in Boali, Damara, and Ombella. That is why the final null hypothesis explores the test that specifies each farm is operating on the technically efficient frontier and that the systematic and random technical efficiency in the inefficiency effects are zero. This is rejected in favor of the presence of inefficiency effects.