A stochastic frontier analysis of technical efficiency in smallholder maize production in Zimbabwe: The post-fast-track land reform outlook

Figures & data

Figure 1. Technical efficiency of firms in input-output space.

Source: Adapted from Battese (1992).

Table 1. Research districts and natural conditions

Province	District	Agro-ecology	Rainfall (mm)	Mean temperature (^°C)	Main crops
Mashonaland Central	Guruve	IIb	700–800	26.5	Maize, soybeans and common beans
Mashonaland East	Goromonzi	IIb	800	18.0	Maize, groundnuts, soybeans and common beans
	Mudzi	III	450–500	23.0	Maize, groundnuts
	Hwedza	IV	450–650	22.0	Maize, groundnuts, tobacco and vegetables

Source: Mugandani, Wuta, Makarau, and Chipindu (2012).

Table 2. Summary of the variables and their expected influence on technical efficiency

Variable	Description	Posited sign (+/−)
Genderhh	Gender (1 = male; 0 = female)	+
Hsize	Household size	+/−
weedngfreq	Weeding frequency	+
Credit	Credit access (1 = yes; 0 = No)	+
ExtFreq	Extension frequency	+
Own cattle	Cattle ownership (1 = yes; 0 = No)	+
Agesqrt	Square root of age of household head	−
Expsqrt	Square root of farming experience	+
logfarmsize	Log of farm size	+
Region (dummy variable capturing districts)	regiondum1 (Goromonzi)	+/−
	regiondum2 (Guruve)	+/−
	regiondum3 (Mudzi)	+/−
	regiondum4 (Hwedza)	+/−
educdummy	Education of household head (1 = at least secondary; 0 = otherwise)	+
Treatment	Dummy for conservation agriculture practice (1 = yes; 0 = No)	+/−

Table 3. Production data and socio-economic characteristics of households

Variables	Mean	Standard deviation	Min	Max
Continuous variables (n = 522)
Maize output (kg)	1,222.242	1,371.436	11	12,000
Fertiliser quantity (kg)	158.573	154.290	0	1,750
Labour (man-days)	3.270	1.808	0	15
Seed quantity (kg)	21.521	15.987	1	29
Area planted (ha)	0.892	0.643	0.04	6
Household size (units)	5.506	4.013	1	76
Weeding frequency (number of times per season)	2.013	0.792	0	4
Extension frequency (visits per season)	3.787	7.621	0	52
Age of household head (years)	51.28	15.504	19	99
Farming experience (years)	19.616	13.926	0	62
Farm size (ha)	2.330	2.437	0.2	36
Categorical variables (n = 522)
Gender of household head (1 = male)	0.764	0.425	0	1
Education (1 = at least secondary)	0.90	0.29	0	1
Extension access (1 = yes)	0.579	0.494	0	1
Credit access (1 = yes)	0.121	0.326	0	1
Own cattle (1 = yes)	0.525	0.50	0	1
regiondum1(1 = Goromonzi)	0.30	0.459	0	1
regiondum2 (1 = Guruve)	0.33	0.473	0	1
regiondum3 (1 = Mudzi)	0.22	0.412	0	1
regiondum4 (1 = Hwedza)	0.15	0.353	0	1
Treatment (1 = conservation agriculture)	0.35	0.476	0	1

Table 4. Input elasticity and socio-economic determinants of inefficiency

Variable	Description	Symbol	Coefficient	Standard error	p-Value
Productive factors
ln InOrganicFert	ln of fertiliser quantity	β1	0.2155	0.0295	0.000*
ln Seedquant	ln of seed quantity	β2	0.4787	0.0698	0.000*
ln labour	ln of labour	β3	0.1405	0.0614	0.022**
ln Area	ln of maize area planted	β4	0.2147	0.0702	0.002*
_cons	Constant	β0	4.7892	0.2514	0.000*
Inefficiency effects
Genderhh	Gender	δ1	−1.0101	0.2785	0.000*
Hsize	Household size	δ2	0.0830	0.0436	0.057***
weedngfreq	Weeding frequency	δ3	−0.1333	0.1607	0.407
Credit	Credit access	δ4	−0.4562	0.4256	0.284
ExtFreq	Extension frequency	δ5	−0.0444	0.0208	0.033**
Own cattle	Cattle ownership	δ6	−0.0575	0.2404	0.811
Agesqrt	Square root of age of household head	δ7	0.0723	0.1431	0.613
Expsqrt	Square root of farming experience	δ8	−0.0487	0.1031	0.637
log farmsize	Log of farm size	δ9	−0.3576	0.2048	0.081***
Region (dummy variable capturing) districts)	regiondum1	δ10	−2.7422	0.4259	0.000*
	regiondum2		−2.6138	0.4074	0.000*
	regiondum3		0.5835	0.3530	0.098***
educdummy	Education of household head	δ11	−0.1280	0.4094	0.755
Treatment	Dummy for conservation agriculture practice	δ12	0.2868	0.2585	0.267
_cons	Constant	δ0	0.9836	1.1531	0.394
Random error
_cons	Constant	Wi	−1.6147	0.1191	0.000*
Other statistics
Likelihood ratio	−561.3208
Prob > χ^2	0.0000*
Number of obs.	522
Wald χ^2 (4)	342.11

* p < 0.01.

** p < 0.05.

*** p < 0.10.

Figure 2. Kernel density estimates of the technical efficiency of individual smallholder maize producers.

Battese, G. E. (1992). Frontier production functions and technical efficiency: A survey of empirical applications in agricultural economics. Agricultural Economics, 7, 185–208.https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-5150(92)90049-5

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Mugandani, R., Wuta, M., Makarau, A., & Chipindu, B. (2012). Re-classification of agro-ecological regions of Zimbabwe in conformity with climate variability and change. African Crop Science Journal, 20, 361–369.

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