Technical efficiency and technology gaps among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6455434 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Abebayehu Girma Geffersa (0000-0003-2108-1084), Frank W Agbola (0000-0002-4351-9553) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Pages | 100620-100620 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-11 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainable Futures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2666-1888 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.sftr.2025.100620 |
| OpenAlex | W4409360503 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 46 |
Despite advancements in agricultural technology, food insecurity and poverty remain significant challenges in many developing countries. This situation is severe in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where rural poverty and food insecurity are on the rise, becoming critical developmental issues. Consequently, enhancing the production of staple crops is essential for achieving food security in the region. In this paper, we investigate the impact of adopting improved maize varieties (IMV) on technical efficiency and technology gap in maize production. Using household panel data, we estimate a true fixed-effects stochastic meta-frontier model and account for technological variation and unobservable farm heterogeneity. Our results indicate that farmers who adopted IMV achieved a 13.3% increase in technical efficiency compared to non-adopters. We find an 11.3% technology gap between adopters and non-adopters of IMV. These findings highlight the importance of promoting IMV adoption to enhance technical efficiency in maize production and contribute to food security in Ethiopia
Agricultural economics · Agricultural science · Agroforestry · Agronomy · Biology · Business · Economics · Agricultural Economics and Practices · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Efficiency Analysis Using DEA · Environmental Science
A Metafrontier Production Function for Estimation of Technical Efficiencies and Technology Gaps for Firms Operating Under Different Technologies
Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model
Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself?
Fixed and Random Effects in Stochastic Frontier Models
Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firm-level efficiencies and technology ratios
Measuring the efficiency of decision making units
The Measurement of Productive Efficiency
Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models
Technical efficiency of Kenya’s smallholder food crop farmers
Exploring the impact of agricultural innovation practices on technical efficiency
Agricultural Transformation in Africa? Assessing the Evidence in Ethiopia
Agricultural investments and hunger in Africa modeling potential contributions to SDG2 – Zero Hunger
The Paradigm of Agricultural Efficiency and its Implication on Food Security in Africa
Decomposition of technical efficiency in agricultural production in Africa into transient and persistent technical efficiency under heterogeneous technologies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |