Mezgebo Gidey Kidu, Mekonen Dawit Gebregziabher, Gebrezgiabher Kidane Tesfay
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.O. Box: 231, Ethiopia.
Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, Mekelle University, Mekelle P.o.Box: 231, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2021 Jun 15;7(6):e07315. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07315. eCollection 2021 Jun.
The study was designed to analyze the technical efficiency of input use among the sesame producer farmers' in Maykadra Kebelle, Kafta-Humera district, Tigrai, Ethiopia; identified factors that influence farmers' resource use efficiency. Primary and secondary data sources were used and random sampling method was applied to select 187 sample sesame producers. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire interview. Tobit two-stage model was employed to estimate farmers' resource efficiency of sesame production. In the first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to analyze farmers' technical and scale efficiency. In the second stage, factors that influence farmers' resource use efficiency were identified using the Tobit model. The DEA result indicated that the technical and scale efficiency of sesame producer farmers were 52% and 55% respectively. The result also revealed that under-utilization of the production inputs under consideration, especially land size and amount of seed used. Moreover, farmers' planting method (P = 0.030∗∗), age of the household head (P = 0.042∗∗), land size (P = 0.002∗∗∗), education of the household head (P = 0.001∗∗∗), and total asset owned (P = 0.024∗∗) were associated with farmers optimal input-output mix of sesame production. As a result, it can be concluded that smallholder farmers in the study area were inefficient in using inputs in sesame production. Therefore, the current inefficiency in sesame production could be improved by giving special attention and working on the factors that affect optimal input-output mix at the farm level.
本研究旨在分析埃塞俄比亚提格雷州卡法-胡梅拉地区马伊卡德拉镇芝麻种植农户投入使用的技术效率，确定影响农户资源利用效率的因素。研究使用了主要和次要数据源，并采用随机抽样方法选取了187个芝麻种植样本农户。通过结构化问卷调查收集了主要数据。采用Tobit两阶段模型来估计农户芝麻生产的资源效率。在第一阶段，运用数据包络分析（DEA）来分析农户的技术效率和规模效率。在第二阶段，使用Tobit模型确定影响农户资源利用效率的因素。DEA结果表明，芝麻种植农户的技术效率和规模效率分别为52%和55%。结果还显示，所考虑的生产投入存在利用不足的情况，特别是土地面积和种子用量。此外，农户的种植方式（P = 0.030**）、户主年龄（P = 0.042**）、土地面积（P = 0.002***）、户主受教育程度（P = 0.001***）以及拥有的总资产（P = 0.024**）与农户芝麻生产的最优投入产出组合相关。因此，可以得出结论，研究区域的小农户在芝麻生产中投入使用效率低下。所以，通过特别关注并处理影响农场层面最优投入产出组合的因素，当前芝麻生产的低效率状况有望得到改善。
