Technical Efficiency of Maize Production in the North West Region of Cameroon: A Stochastic Frontier Application on Small-Scale Farmers in Balikumbat Sub-Division

초록

Maize production is a major agricultural activity in the rural areas of Cameroon. Encouraged by a strong cultural and historic consumption habit for corn as a staple food in different forms, small-scale maize production in the North West Region of Cameroon plays a key role in food security. This study sampled 110 small-scale maize farmers in the Balikumbat Sub-Division. To examine the level of technical efficiency of small-scale maize production in the study area, we applied the Stochastic Frontier analysis through an Output-Oriented approach with the Cobb-Douglas Production function. An inefficiency model was used to identify the sources of technical inefficiency among the sampled farmers. The findings revealed that maize farmers in the study area were 52% technically efficient, with an abundant possibility of improving their output by 48% with the existing production technology. The findings also showed that 96% of the total variation in maize output was traceable to sources of technical inefficiency. The amount of seed used, the quantity of fertilizer, and the availability of farm labor all had a statistically significant effect on the technical efficiency of the activity. Moreover, technical inefficiency was negatively impacted by household size, farm size, training, and extension guidance; hence, these factors positively influenced the technical efficiency of farmers. Our results indicate there is room and a need to improve maize output in the study area using the current production technology.

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