Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi in the Post-Reform Era: Which Policies Matter Most?

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dc.contributor.authorTchale, Hardwick
dc.contributor.authorKumwenda, Ian
dc.contributor.authorWobst, Peter
dc.contributor.authorMduma, John K.
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-19T13:01:45Z
dc.date.available2016-07-19T13:01:45Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.description.abstractThe development of Malawian smallholder agriculture has since the 1980s gone through many challenges and there are fears that this may have been a precursor to unsustainable agricultural intensification and worsening poverty. In this paper, we conduct an empirical assessment of smallholder technical efficiency and its determinants using farm household and plot data. We use a non-parametric frontier analysis to analyze the technical efficiency of farmers in the maize-based mixed farming systems. In addition, we use a regression-based estimation to assess the socio-economic and policy related factors that may explain the estimated levels of technical efficiency. The results indicate low to medium levels of technical efficiency, depending on crop variety and soil fertility management option used. Higher levels of relative technical efficiency are obtained when farmers use integrated soil fertility options compared to the use of inorganic fertilizer only. Of the policy variables included in the analysis, agricultural input and output market, credit and extension access strongly influence smallholder technical efficiency. Government needs to resuscitate these public policy issues in order to effectively address sustainability of Malawian agriculture and its impact on poverty.en_US
dc.identifier.citationTchale, H., Kumwenda, I., Wobst, P. and Mduma, J., 2005. Technical efficiency of smallholder farmers in Malawi in the post-reform era: Which policies matter most?. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 44(1).en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/3270
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectSmallholder agricultureen_US
dc.subjectTechnical efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectSoil fertility managementen_US
dc.subjectMalawien_US
dc.titleTechnical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi in the Post-Reform Era: Which Policies Matter Most?en_US
dc.typeJournal Article, Peer Revieweden_US
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