COMPARATIVE TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE SOYBEAN FARMERS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA: A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH

Abstract

This study examined technical efficiency in small and medium-scale soybean production in Benue State, Nigeria, using cross-sectional data. The study used multistage sampling technique for the selection of 160 respondents, comprising 96 small-scale and 64 medium-scale soybean farmers. The analytical techniques involved descriptive statistics and the estimation of technical efficiency following one-step approach of Maximum likelihood Estimation (MLE) procedure available in frontier 4.1. The results of the analysis show that there are differences in the socio-economic characteristics and production inputs of the small and medium-scale soybean farmers. However, the technical efficiency of small-scale soybean farmers ranged from 0.102 to 0.958 on the scale of 1.00 with a mean of 0.842 while that of medium-scale soybean farmers ranged from 0.487 to 0.999 on the scale of 1.00 with a mean of 0.725. For small-scale soybean farmers, family size, age, farming experience, credit accessibility, and land fragmentation were statistically significant. For medium-scale soybean farmers, age, and off-farm income were consistent with a priori expectation and significant at 5% level of probability. The test of null hypotheses on the differentials in technical efficiency between the two groups of soybean farmers showed that there was significant difference at 5% level. Small scale soybean production was found to be more technically efficient which implies that Nigeria agricultural development is still at the stage where young and experienced small-scale farmers are to be included in agricultural planning and programmes to achieve poverty reduction and economic emancipation of many Nigerians rather than encouraging programmes that exclude them.