Analysis of maize production efficiency in selected communities of Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyzed production efficiency and the factors influencing technical efficiency (TE), allocative efficiency (AE) and economic efficiency (EE) as well as the returns to scale of maize production in some selected communities of Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting a sample size of 264 maize farmers in August 2021. Data on farmers’ socio-economic characteristics, input and output quantities as well prices, farmland management practices and constraints to maize production among others were collected using pre-tested, structured questionnaire. Maximum likelihood technique was used to estimate the unknown parameters of the double log stochastic frontier production function. The results indicated that the efficiency score obtained under the TE were higher than those obtained in AE and EE, respectively. Education level and maize farmers’ TE are negatively related with a coefficient of -0.0972 at (P<0.010) but significantly and positively contribute to AE with coefficient of 0.1837 at (P<0.01) and EE with coefficient of 0.1724 at (P<0.001), respectively. The results also showed that the mean TE, AE and EE were 97.5%, 46.5% and 45.0%, respectively, indicating that farmers still have room for improvement of their efficiency in maize production in the study area. The returns to scale were found to be 0.1216, 0.1557 and 0.4569, respectively, suggesting decreasing returns to scale. Herbicides and pesticides inputs had negative elasticity of production. It is recommended that a good pricing policy should be enacted which will serve as an incentive to farmers so as to encourage more people to go into farming and improve the AE of the maize farmers in the study area. Also, farmers should look for possible local means fighting of and controlling the threats of rodent and insect-pest destruction, erosion and flooding to enable them to achieve their full potential.