IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jproda/v58y2022i2d10.1007_s11123-022-00643-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Egocentric information networks influence technical efficiency of farmers? Empirical evidence from Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Sadick Mohammed

    (University of Kiel)

  • Awudu Abdulai

    (University of Kiel)

Abstract

We investigate the impact of farmers’ egocentric information network on technical efficiency and its distribution in the network, using observational data of 600 farmers from northern Ghana. We exploit community detection algorithms to endogenously identify homogeneous network communities with known structures to account for spatial heterogeneity, in a spatial stochastic frontier model that controls for social selection bias. The empirical results reveal that at the global network level, farmers’ technical efficiency strongly correlate with that of farmers in their egocentric networks. Our findings also show that farmers who are technically less efficient tend to depend on the more efficient farmers in their networks to improve efficiency. We further find that estimating spatial dependence of technical efficiency without accounting for spatial heterogeneity can lead to underestimation of technical efficiency of high (efficiency score >0.6) performing farmers, while overestimating that of medium (efficiency scores between 0.36–0.5) and low (efficiency scores between 0.1–0.35) performing farmers. The findings suggest that identifying central farmers in egocentric networks and improving their technical knowledge in a farmer-to-farmer extension organization, can contribute to improving the productivity of many farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadick Mohammed & Awudu Abdulai, 2022. "Do Egocentric information networks influence technical efficiency of farmers? Empirical evidence from Ghana," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 109-128, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:58:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11123-022-00643-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-022-00643-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11123-022-00643-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11123-022-00643-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Viliam Druska & William C. Horrace, 2004. "Generalized Moments Estimation for Spatial Panel Data: Indonesian Rice Farming," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(1), pages 185-198.
    2. Di Falco, Salvatore & Feri, Francesco & Pin, Paolo & Vollenweider, Xavier, 2018. "Ties that bind: Network redistributive pressure and economic decisions in village economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 123-131.
    3. Lori Beaman & Ariel BenYishay & Jeremy Magruder & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, 2021. "Can Network Theory-Based Targeting Increase Technology Adoption?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(6), pages 1918-1943, June.
    4. Oriana Bandiera & Imran Rasul, 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 869-902, October.
    5. Alexandra Schmidt & Ajax Moreira & Steven Helfand & Thais Fonseca, 2009. "Spatial stochastic frontier models: accounting for unobserved local determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 101-112, April.
    6. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    7. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2010. "Microeconomics of Technology Adoption," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 395-424, September.
    8. Tavneet Suri, 2011. "Selection and Comparative Advantage in Technology Adoption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(1), pages 159-209, January.
    9. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie & Zhu, Jessica, 2017. "Seeing is believing? Evidence from an extension network experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-20.
    10. Kutlu, Levent & Tran, Kien C. & Tsionas, Mike G., 2020. "A spatial stochastic frontier model with endogenous frontier and environmental variables," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(1), pages 389-399.
    11. Alberto Gude & Inmaculada Álvarez & Luis Orea, 2018. "Heterogeneous spillovers among Spanish provinces: a generalized spatial stochastic frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 155-173, December.
    12. Kazushi Takahashi & Rie Muraoka & Keijiro Otsuka, 2020. "Technology adoption, impact, and extension in developing countries’ agriculture: A review of the recent literature," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(1), pages 31-45, January.
    13. Beaman, Lori & Dillon, Andrew, 2018. "Diffusion of agricultural information within social networks: Evidence on gender inequalities from Mali," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 147-161.
    14. Elisa Fusco & Francesco Vidoli, 2013. "Spatial stochastic frontier models: controlling spatial global and local heterogeneity," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 679-694, September.
    15. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    16. George A. Akerlof, 1997. "Social Distance and Social Decisions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1005-1028, September.
    17. Vidoli, Francesco & Cardillo, Concetta & Fusco, Elisa & Canello, Jacopo, 2016. "Spatial nonstationarity in the stochastic frontier model: An application to the Italian wine industry," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 153-164.
    18. Orea, Luis & Álvarez, Inmaculada C., 2019. "A new stochastic frontier model with cross-sectional effects in both noise and inefficiency terms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(2), pages 556-577.
    19. Jing Cai & Alain De Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Social Networks and the Decision to Insure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 81-108, April.
    20. Awudu Abdulai & Wallace Huffman, 2014. "The Adoption and Impact of Soil and Water Conservation Technology: An Endogenous Switching Regression Application," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 90(1), pages 26-43.
    21. Kalyan Chatterjee & Bhaskar Dutta, 2016. "Credibility And Strategic Learning In Networks," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 759-786, August.
    22. Luc Anselin, 2010. "Thirty years of spatial econometrics," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 3-25, March.
    23. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    24. William C. Horrace & Hyunseok Jung, 2018. "Stochastic frontier models with network selectivity," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 101-116, December.
    25. Francisco José Areal & Kelvin Balcombe & Richard Tiffin, 2012. "Integrating spatial dependence into Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(4), pages 521-541, October.
    26. Areal, Francisco Jose & Balcombe, Kelvin & Tiffin, Richard, 2012. "Integrated spatial dependence into Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(4), pages 1-21, December.
    27. Sadick Mohammed & Awudu Abdulai, 2022. "Do ICT based extension services improve technology adoption and welfare? Empirical evidence from Ghana," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(23), pages 2707-2726, May.
    28. A. G. Billé & C. Salvioni & R. Benedetti, 2018. "Modelling spatial regimes in farms technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 173-185, June.
    29. Valerien O. Pede & Francisco J. Areal & Alphonse Singbo & Justin McKinley & Kei Kajisa, 2018. "Spatial dependency and technical efficiency: an application of a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to irrigated and rainfed rice farmers in Bohol, Philippines," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 301-312, May.
    30. Kelvin Mashisia Shikuku & Janneke Pieters & Erwin Bulte & Peter Läderach, 2019. "Incentives and the Diffusion of Agricultural Knowledge: Experimental Evidence from Northern Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1164-1180.
    31. J. Polzehl & V. G. Spokoiny, 2000. "Adaptive weights smoothing with applications to image restoration," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 62(2), pages 335-354.
    32. Yazeed Abdul Mumin & Awudu Abdulai, 2022. "Social networks, adoption of improved variety and household welfare: evidence from Ghana," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 49(1), pages 1-32.
    33. Thomas Graaff, 2020. "On the estimation of spatial stochastic frontier models: an alternative skew-normal approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 64(2), pages 267-285, April.
    34. Kalyan Chatterjee & Bhaskar Dutta, 2016. "Credibility And Strategic Learning In Networks," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 759-786, August.
    35. Efthymios G. Tsionas & Panayotis G. Michaelides, 2016. "A Spatial Stochastic Frontier Model with Spillovers: Evidence for Italian Regions," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 63(3), pages 243-257, July.
    36. Junxian Geng & Anirban Bhattacharya & Debdeep Pati, 2019. "Probabilistic Community Detection With Unknown Number of Communities," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 114(526), pages 893-905, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Awudu Abdulai, 2023. "Information acquisition and the adoption of improved crop varieties," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(4), pages 1049-1062, August.

    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. Kassoum Ayouba, 2023. "Spatial dependence in production frontier models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 21-36, August.
    2. Orea, Luis & Álvarez, Inmaculada C., 2019. "Spatial Production Economics," Efficiency Series Papers 2019/06, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    3. Kazushi Takahashi & Rie Muraoka & Keijiro Otsuka, 2020. "Technology adoption, impact, and extension in developing countries’ agriculture: A review of the recent literature," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(1), pages 31-45, January.
    4. Orea, Luis & Álvarez, Inmaculada C., 2019. "A new stochastic frontier model with cross-sectional effects in both noise and inefficiency terms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(2), pages 556-577.
    5. Adjin, K. Christophe & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2020. "Climate variability and farm inefficiency: A spatial stochastic frontier analysis of Senegalese agriculture," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2020-09, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    6. Federico Belotti & Giuseppe Ilardi & Andrea Piano Mortari, 2019. "Estimation of Stochastic Frontier Panel Data Models with Spatial Inefficiency," CEIS Research Paper 459, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 30 May 2019.
    7. Theodoros Skevas & Jasper Grashuis, 2020. "Technical efficiency and spatial spillovers: Evidence from grain marketing cooperatives in the US Midwest," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 111-126, January.
    8. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Satish, Varun & Sulaiman, Munshi & Sun, Yi, 2022. "Sooner rather than later: Social networks and technology adoption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 466-482.
    9. Elisa Fusco & Giuseppe Arbia & Francesco Vidoli & Vincenzo Nardelli, 2024. "On Spatio-Temporal Stochastic Frontier Models," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2024_09, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    10. Olivia Bertelli & Fatou Fall, 2024. "Reaching out to socially distant trainees: experimental evidence from variations on the standard farmer trainer system," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 51(2), pages 533-588.
    11. Fei Jin & Lung-fei Lee, 2020. "Asymptotic properties of a spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier model," Journal of Spatial Econometrics, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-40, December.
    12. Jacopo Canello & Francesco Vidoli, 2020. "Investigating space‐time patterns of regional industrial resilience through a micro‐level approach: An application to the Italian wine industry," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 653-676, September.
    13. Kevin Schneider & Ioannis Skevas & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2021. "Spatial Spillovers on Input‐specific Inefficiency of Dutch Arable Farms," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 224-243, February.
    14. A. G. Billé & C. Salvioni & R. Benedetti, 2018. "Modelling spatial regimes in farms technologies," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 173-185, June.
    15. Khushbu Mishra & Abdoul G. Sam & Gracious M. Diiro & Mario J. Miranda, 2020. "Gender and the dynamics of technology adoption: Empirical evidence from a household‐level panel data," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(6), pages 857-870, November.
    16. Fernando, A. Nilesh, 2021. "Seeking the treated: The impact of mobile extension on farmer information exchange in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    17. Elisa Fusco & Giuseppe Arbia & Francesco Vidoli & Vincenzo Nardelli, 2024. "On Spatio-Temporal Stochastic Frontier Models," Papers 2410.20915, arXiv.org.
    18. Skevas, Ioannis & Skevas, Theodoros, 2021. "A generalized true random-effects model with spatially autocorrelated persistent and transient inefficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1131-1142.
    19. Anna Folke Larsen, 2019. "When knowledgeable neighbors also share seedlings: diffusion of banana cultivation in Tanzania," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(1), pages 51-65, January.
    20. Bao Hoang Nguyen & Zhichao Wang & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2023. "Efficiency of Queensland Public Hospitals via Spatial Panel Stochastic Frontier Models," CEPA Working Papers Series WP102023, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    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:kap:jproda:v:58:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11123-022-00643-2. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.