Technical Efficiency of Cassava - Based Cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria

This study examined the technical efficiency of cassava-based cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of all cassava-based farmers in Oyo State. Well structured questionnaire was used in collecting information from 253 cassava-based farmers in the study area. Multistage random sampling technique was employed. The study was analyzed, using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production and multiple regression analysis. The result of the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function revealed that cassava cutting material was statistically significant and positive in all the zones. This implies that cuttings are positive factors that influence output in the study area. The coefficient of farm size was also found to be significant and positive in all the zones except in zone 4 where it was insignificant and negative. This implies that farm size was a significant and positive determinant of cassava output in these zones The estimated gamma parameter (γ) of 0.814 indicates that 81.4% of the total variation in cassava output was due to technical inefficiencies in the study area. The return to scale (RTS) was 0.54 in the study area. This indicates a positive decreasing return to scale and that cassava production was in stage II of the production region where resources and production were believed to be efficient. The mean technical efficiency for the study area was 0.542. The analyses of technical efficiency revealed that cassava-based farmers were not operating on the production frontier. Productivity improvements can be achieved by implementing policies, such as, improved farmers’ access to extension services and technical assistance, to ensure farmers used the existing technology more efficiently. This would make farmers operate more closely to the existing frontier.