Estimating farm-level technical efficiency of sunflower in Lango Sub-region in Northern Uganda: A stochastic frontier approach

Abstract

Information on efficiency in sunflower is severely constraints and this in turn has limited the ability to devise promising policy initiatives in sunflower industry. This study was therefore motivated by the desire to ensure that policy makers and planners make informed policy on how to increase sunflower productivity with the existing resources and available technologies. The general objective was to assess the possibilities for productivity gains that can be made from the current resources by sunflower farmers in Lango in view of guiding policy makers. The specific objectives were to; estimate technical efficiency of sunflower farmers in Lango Sub-region. And identify factors which influence technical efficiency among sunflower farmers. Using cross-sectional data from 196 households from the four districts of Lango Sub-region, data was collected to measure farm level technical efficiency in sunflower production. The study employed stochastic frontier approach where the results of C-D functional form showed that the coefficient of inputs had positive value of 1.1136 indicating increasing returns to scale. The observed technical efficiency ranged from 16.76% to 96.20% with a mean of 81.2%, indicating a wide variation among the different farmers. Further inquiry indicates that education of household head, experience, extension contact, contract farming and access to credit had significant influence on technical inefficiency. The study therefore calls for attention of the policy-makers and the planners to give top priority to strengthening of rural and agricultural supporting institutions in order to enhance agricultural productivity. Such policies inclusion promoting commercialization of sunflower production, increased utilization of conventional inputs as well as extension contacts. The study also recommends the need for further research to look into allocative efficiency in the crop. Additional study can be conducted by employing stochastic cost function model to explore input-cost minimization or data envelop analysis. There is also a need for further research to look into value addition and marketing of sunflower if the country is to pursue its goal of transforming agriculture as stipulated in the PMA