Technical Inefficiency of Maize Farming and Its Determinants in Different Agro-Climatic Regions of Sikkim, India

Using primary data of 200 farm households, the present study aims to examine farm level technical inefficiency of maize farming and its determinants in different agro-climatic regions of Sikkim. In order to check the robustness of results and policy implications thereof both Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) are used for measuring technical inefficiency of maize farming in the study area. The results of the analysis indicate that there is substantial scope for enhancing output of maize in the study area by around 40 to 55 per cent through an optimal use of the existing resources. Further, inefficiency is lower among the farmers belonging to Buddhism and those cultivating leased-in land while remoteness from the input market makes them more inefficient. The technical inefficiency was highest among the farmers in tropical agro-climatic region and was lowest among the farmers in temperate agro-climatic region. These results are robust to alternative methodologies and scale assumptions. Given the bottlenecks in the implementation of land reforms in Sikkim some tenancy reforms such as security over land use rights may provide a boost to the tenant cultivators and thereby enhance maize production in the state. The government may also provide incentives to open farm input outlets at the village level which may help the farmers in getting easy and timely access to farm inputs which may help them increase their farm output level.