Determinants of factors influencing technical efficiency of cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the factors influencing technical efficiency of cocoa production in Ondo State, Nigeria using a stochastic frontier production function. Using the random sampling technique, well-structured questionnaire were used to elicit information from 120 cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. The mean technical efficiency rate attained was at 0.9869 and the elasticity of cocoa production is 1.2134 which indicated that a 1% increase input use will lead to more than one percent proportion change in the output of cocoa. This implies an increasing return to scale in variable inputs use among the farmers. Consequently, the result showed that quantity of chemical used, labour, amount of capital fixed input (naira) and farm size (hectares) significantly influence cocoa production output of farmers.

The variables that influenced cocoa farmer inefficiency were age, education levels, secondary occupation, sex and marital status of the farmers.

The study recommended that younger farmers be encouraged on the need to take cocoa farming as a business and also be educated to cultivate more hectares of cocoa with which they can grow in age and improve their livelihood.

Keywords: technical efficiency, stochastic frontier functions, and cocoa farming in Nigeria