A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science in Economics - Project Planning and Management
(MSC. PPM) of Mzumbe University
The measurement of efficiency in agricultural production determines the efficiency
level of households in their farming activities. This will also determine whether
small-scale farmers make use of all the available potentials in their agricultural
activities or not. This study measured technical efficiency (TE) of maize production
and identified some determinants of technical inefficiency for the specified variables.
The objective of the study was to determine the level of technical efficiency of smallscale
maize producers and to identify the socio-economic features that influence
technical efficiency among maize farmers. Questionnaire, interview and focus group
discussion were used to collect primary data from 120 small-scale farmers. Cobb-
Douglas production function was used to determine the level of technical efficiency
and Logistic regression model was used to analyse the variables that have influence
the technical efficiency of maize production. Cobb-Douglas results reveal that
small-scale farmers in Karagwe District are experiencing technical inefficiency in
maize production due to the decreasing return to scale, which means they are overutilizing
factors of production. Logistic regression results indicate that out of eight
(7) variables included in the analysis as socio-economic factors, five variables that
are purchase of hybrid seeds, farmers‟ organization membership, farming experience,
Extension officers and climatic trend were found to be significant and three variables
(3) that are land size, Fertilizer application, and labour system are non-significant.
The calculated technical efficiency was 62% meaning that there is still an
opportunity to expand maize production using the current level of inputs and the
technologies available in the area.
Therefore this study propose that, since maize production is capital intensive and that
most farmers are poor and would not manage to self-finance their agricultural
activities, then the government should do the on-farm training since farmers mainly
depend on trial and error and farmers` should have access to enough and proper use
of farm inputs, provision of better extension programs, and farm management
trainings that will improve technical efficiency.