Statistical Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Pearl Millet Farmers in North-western Nigeria: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Abstract

Millet is a prominent staple food among households in northern Nigeria; hence the bulk of its production is from the region. This study examined the technical efficiency of smallholder pearl millet farmers in north-western Nigeria. Using a sample of 430 smallholder farmers in the Kano and Jigawa states, the data for the study were collected during the 2015/2016 cropping season. Stochastic frontier analysis and least square regression were used to estimate the technical efficiency of millet farmers and to examine its determinants, respectively. The results obtained from the stochastic frontier analysis show substantial technical inefficiency among smallholder pearl millet farmers. The results reveal that all the six production variables used in the model: farm size, fertilizer, manure, labour, seed, and agrochemical, had a positive technical relationship with pearl millet output and were statistically significant. The elasticity of production, with a value of 1.83, showed that the pearl millet farmers were operating at an increasing return to scale. The result also reveals an average TE of 82 percent. The best practicing and the least technically efficient pearl millet farmers had technical efficiencies of 96 and 64 percent, respectively. In addition, in the OLS models, farmers' socio-economic factors such as farm size of farmers, type of seed planted, household size, education, access to credit, and extension contact were found to determine technical efficiency. Results of the study revealed a need for strong policies towards ensuring an efficient means of accessing farmland, labour, and improved pearl millet varieties access. Policies should also be formed to ensure easy and timely access to credit to pearl millet farmers and strengthen the extension programs for effective extension services delivery in the study area.