Abstract:
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the main staple food in Ethiopia, high productivity and
efficiency in its production is crucial to food security in the country. But, the productivity
of wheat can be change due to differences in the efficiency of the production process.
Since, this study aimed to analyzing the technical efficiency of wheat production in
Simada district of south Gondar in Ethiopia. The objective of study was to measure the
level of technical efficiency of wheat producers and to identify factors that contribute for
efficiency differences among smallholder farmers in the study area. It was based on
cross-sectional data collected from 154 wheat producer farmers by multi- stag sampling
technique during 2017/18 production season. For data collection personal interview
through a structural interview scheduled was employed. Both descriptive and inferential
statistics with STATA 14 were used for data analysis. Technical efficiency of sampled
farmer in wheat production was estimated and analyzed by Cobb-Douglas functional
form in stochastic frontier model (SFM) with single stage estimation method. The
estimated SFM indicated that input variables (land, labor, seed and oxen) were found to
be significantly and positively influence wheat production at1and5percent of significant
level respectively. The production of wheat by sampled farmer was characteristics in
increasing return to scale (1.56). The estimated gamma (γ) parameter was about 0.57.
The estimated mean level of TE of wheat producers was 0.74.Among the farm specific
socioeconomic and institutional factors hypothesized to affect TE, education status and
seasonal migration at 10 percent of significance level and family size, frequency of
weeding, livestock holding and credit access at 5 percent of significance level and also
frequency of extension contact at 1percent significance have positive influence on the
level of technical efficiency in wheat production. Therefore, the study suggested the above
mentioned significant variables have important for policy implications in that development programs may give fruitful attention so as to mitigate the existing level of
inefficiency of farmers in the production of wheat in study area.
