Technical Efficiency of Maize Production

The study was aimed at analyzing the technical efficiency in maize production of smallholder farmers in Mecha district, West Gojjam, ANRS. Cross sectional data from 120 maize producer farmers were collected during 2004/05 production season. The estimated results of the Cobb-Douglas frontier model with inefficiency variables shows that the mean technical efficiency of the farmers in the production of maize is 78 percent. This implies that maize productivity can be increased by 22 percent given the existing technological level. Thus currently farmers are not using production inputs efficiently in such a way that they give their maximum potential. The discrepancy ratio gamma (), which measures the relative deviation of output from the frontier level due to inefficiency, was about 66 percent. This implies that about 66 percent of the variation in maize production (yield) among the sample respondents was attributed to technical inefficiency effects. The estimated stochastic production frontier (SPF) model also indicates that DAP fertilizer, Area, Labor and Pesticide are significant determinants of maize production level.