IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v11y2024i6p170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants and Change in Total Factor Productivity of Smallholder Maize Production in Southern Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Moses Mumba
  • Abdi-Khalil Edriss

Abstract

Smallholder maize production in Zambia has been characterised by low productivity despite concerted efforts at improving the situation as is evident in budgetary allocations to programmes such as the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). The study assessed if there was a change in total factor productivity (TFP) in smallholder maize production in Southern Province of Zambia between the 2010/11 and 2013/14 agricultural seasons. Using a balanced panel of 778 smallholder farmers, a Stochastic Frontier Analysis was used to estimate the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) in measuring the productivity change in maize production. The change in TFP was further decomposed into its components, efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) so as to understand more on the change in productivity. It was found that over the period of study, the mean EC was 0.8734, implying that technical efficiency (TE) had declined by 12.7 % with the mean TFP of 0.9401, indicating that over the study period TFP had fallen by 5.99 %. The results further showed that the age of the farmer, education of the farmer, household size, membership to a farmer organization, ownership of cattle, access to credit, and drought stress were significant (ρ<0.05) factors in explaining TFP. In light of the findings, some recommendations were made for policy including the need to facilitate farmers’ access to credit, sensitize farmers on the benefits of belonging to farmer organizations, on ownership of livestock such as cattle and for massive investment in irrigation infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Moses Mumba & Abdi-Khalil Edriss, 2024. "Determinants and Change in Total Factor Productivity of Smallholder Maize Production in Southern Zambia," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(6), pages 170-170, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:11:y:2024:i:6:p:170
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/0/0/37681/38427
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/37681
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zulu, Ballard & Jayne, Thomas S. & Beaver, Margaret, 2007. "Smallholder Household Maize Production and Marketing Behavior in Zambia and Its Implications for Policy," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 54481, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Olinto, Pedro, 2000. "Why liberalization alone has not improved agricultural productivity in Zambia : the role of asset ownership and working capital constraints," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2302, The World Bank.
    3. Zulu, Ballard & Jayne, Thomas S. & Beaver, Margaret, 2007. "Smallholder Household Maize Production and Marketing Behavior in Zambia: Implications for Policy," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 54626, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    4. Benin, Samuel (ed.), 2016. "Agricultural productivity in Africa: Trends, patterns, and determinants," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-881-1.
    5. Ng'ombe, John & Kalinda, Thomson, 2015. "A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Maize Production Under Minimum Tillage in Zambia," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(2).
    6. Oh Sang Kwon & Hyunok Lee, 2004. "Productivity improvement in Korean rice farming: parametric and non‐parametric analysis," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 48(2), pages 323-346, June.
    7. Kwon, Oh Sang & Lee, Hyunok, 2004. "Productivity improvement in Korean rice farming: parametric and non-parametric analysis," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 48(2), pages 1-24.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicole M. Mason & Robert J. Myers, 2013. "The effects of the Food Reserve Agency on maize market prices in Zambia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(2), pages 203-216, March.
    2. Graham, Mary, 2009. "Developing a social perspective to farm performance analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2390-2398, June.
    3. Govereh, Jones & Haggblade, Steven & Nielson, Hunter & Tschirley, David L., 2008. "Maize Market Sheds in Eastern and Southern Africa. Report 1," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 55374, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    4. Chang, Hung-Hao & Wen, Fang-I, 2008. "Off-farm Work, Technical Efficiency, and Production Risk: Empirical Evidence from a National Farmer Survey in Taiwan," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6164, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Álvaro Ramírez Suárez, 2013. "Análisis de eficiencia económica de fincas arroceras: una aplicación de una función determinística de ingresos brutos frontera," Revista Lebret, Universidad Santo Tomás - Bucaramanga, vol. 5, pages 213-240, December.
    6. Tleubayev, Alisher & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Götz, Linde & Hockmann, Heinrich & Glauben, Thomas, 2017. "Determinants of productivity and efficiency of wheat production in Kazakhstan: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," IAMO Discussion Papers 253397, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    7. Álvaro Ramírez Suárez, 2013. "Análisis de eficiencia económica de fincas arroceras: una aplicación de una función determinística de ingresos brutos frontera," Revista Lebret, Universidad Santo Tomás - Bucaramanga, vol. 5, pages 213-240, December.
    8. K Hervé Dakpo & Philippe Jeanneaux & Laure Latruffe & Claire Mosnier & Patrick Veysset, 2018. "Three decades of productivity change in French beef production: a Färe‐Primont index decomposition," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(3), pages 352-372, July.
    9. Kang, Hye-Jung & Choi, Ji-Hyeon, 2013. "What Drives the Productivity Change of the Korean Food Processing Industry?: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Firm-Level Panel Data, 2001-2009," Journal of Rural Development/Nongchon-Gyeongje, Korea Rural Economic Institute, vol. 36(1), pages 1-20, May.
    10. Anirban Nandy & Piyush Kumar Singh & Alok Kumar Singh, 2021. "Systematic Review and Meta- regression Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Agricultural Production Systems," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 22(2), pages 396-421, April.
    11. Jun Ho Seok & Hanpil Moon & GwanSeon Kim & Michael R. Reed, 2018. "Is Aging the Important Factor for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Korea? Evidence from the Relationship between Aging and Farm Technical Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, June.
    12. Boris Bravo-Ureta & Daniel Solís & Víctor Moreira López & José Maripani & Abdourahmane Thiam & Teodoro Rivas, 2007. "Technical efficiency in farming: a meta-regression analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 57-72, February.
    13. Ajetomobi, J. O. & Adedeji, I. A., 2016. "Productivity Growth of ECOWAS Common Crops: A Tale of Two Competing Frontier Methods of Analysis," Agroeconomia Croatica, Croatian Society of Agricultural Economists, vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, November.
    14. repec:zbw:iamodp:253397 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Johnson, Nancy L. & Guedenet, Hannah & Saltzman, Amy, 2015. "What will it take for biofortification to have impact on the ground? Theories of change for three crop-country combinations:," IFPRI discussion papers 1427, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Kamila Radlińska, 2023. "Some Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Technical Efficiency—The Example of European Union Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Sauer, J.F., 2005. "“Efficiency Flooding”: Black-Box Frontiers and Policy Implications," International Journal of Applied Econometrics and Quantitative Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 2(1), pages 17-52.
    18. Hyejung Kang, 2007. "Productivity Growth in Korean Agriculture, 1998-2002: Analysis of Multi- Output Production Technolog," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 23, pages 433-457.
    19. Johannes Sauer & Klaus Frohberg & Henrich Hockmann, 2006. "Stochastic efficiency measurement: The curse of theoretical consistency," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 9, pages 139-166, May.
    20. Zainab Oyetunde-Usman & Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju, 2019. "Determinants of Food Security and Technical Efficiency among Agricultural Households in Nigeria," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-13, October.
    21. Giller, Ken E. & Andersson, Jens & Delaune, Thomas & Silva, João Vasco & Descheemaeker, Katrien & van de Ven, Gerrie & Schut, Antonius G.T. & van Wijk, Mark & Hammond, Jim & Hochman, Zvi & Taulya, God, 2022. "IFAD Research Series 83: The future of farming: who will produce our food?," IFAD Research Series 322005, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:11:y:2024:i:6:p:170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.