Ngeno Vincent
Department of Agricultural Economics & Resource Management, Moi University, Kenya.
Heliyon. 2024 Jan 12;10(2):e24657. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24657. eCollection 2024 Jan 30.
The profit efficiency (PE) of maize farming and its determinants are estimated using the true random effect (TRE) approach. A survey of maize farmers was conducted in Uasin Gishu, one of Kenya's top maize-producing regions. Clearly, maize farmers can increase their profits based on the mean PE of 0.62. In terms of profitability, maize farming is elastically affected by the price of maize, but inelastically affected by the price of inputs. In households where the head of household is male, household sizes are larger, and farm sizes are larger, inefficiencies of profit are significantly reduced. Despite this, factors such as the distance between home and the maize farm, soil characteristics, maize diseases, along with natural disasters significantly increase profit inefficiency. According to the findings of the study, maize prices are more effective targets for developing supportive policies than input prices. To significantly increase PE, farmers would benefit from programs designed to improve their production and management skills to preserve soil health and minimize damage caused by disease and natural disasters. Furthermore, increase in PE would be achieved by improving farm size through land-use policies.
采用真随机效应(TRE)方法估算了玉米种植的利润效率(PE)及其决定因素。在肯尼亚主要玉米产区之一的乌阿辛吉舒对玉米种植户进行了一项调查。显然,基于0.62的平均利润效率,玉米种植户可以增加他们的利润。在盈利能力方面,玉米种植受玉米价格的弹性影响,但受投入品价格的非弹性影响。在户主为男性、家庭规模较大且农场规模较大的家庭中,利润无效率显著降低。尽管如此,家庭与玉米农场之间的距离、土壤特性、玉米病害以及自然灾害等因素会显著增加利润无效率。根据该研究的结果,与投入品价格相比,玉米价格是制定支持性政策更有效的目标。为了显著提高利润效率,农民将受益于旨在提高其生产和管理技能以保持土壤健康并尽量减少病害和自然灾害造成的损害的项目。此外,通过土地利用政策扩大农场规模将实现利润效率的提高。