IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jasjnl/v17y2025i10p45.html

An Exploration of the Technical Efficiency of Wheat Production and Its Determinants Among Smallholder Farmers in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad Shoaib Rahimi
  • Yan Yunxian

Abstract

This study assesses the technical efficiency of wheat production and its determining factors among 384 smallholder farmers in the Imam Sahib, Ali Abad, and Khan Abad districts of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. Agriculture in this region is the primary livelihood and essential for food security, yet wheat yields remain suboptimal due to inefficient input use and structural challenges. Using a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) based on the Cobb-Douglas production function, the study estimates farm-level efficiency while accounting for random variation. A Tobit regression model is employed to identify socio-economic and institutional factors affecting technical efficiency (TE), given that TE scores fall between 0 and 1. The findings reveal an average TE score of 77.89%, suggesting that farmers could boost output by 22.11% using the same inputs more efficiently. Key production inputs, land, labor, improved seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, significantly influenced output. Additionally, higher education levels, better access to extension services, formal credit, mobile phone use, training participation, and market proximity positively impacted TE. These results point to considerable inefficiencies and highlight the need for targeted policy interventions to improve education, rural infrastructure, and institutional support. Promoting digital tools and effective extension services can also enhance productivity. The study provides practical insights to inform strategies aimed at strengthening agricultural performance and rural livelihoods in resource-constrained, post-conflict regions of northern Afghanistan.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Shoaib Rahimi & Yan Yunxian, 2025. "An Exploration of the Technical Efficiency of Wheat Production and Its Determinants Among Smallholder Farmers in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 17(10), pages 1-45, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:17:y:2025:i:10:p:45
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/download/0/0/52166/56803
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/view/0/52166
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kifayatullah Kakar & Tran Dang Xuan & Mohammad Ismael Haqani & Ramin Rayee & Imran Khan Wafa & Saidajan Abdiani & Hoang-Dung Tran, 2019. "Current Situation and Sustainable Development of Rice Cultivation and Production in Afghanistan," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kifayatullah Kakar & Tran Dang Xuan & Nguyen Van Quan & Imran Khan Wafa & Hoang-Dung Tran & Tran Dang Khanh & Tran Dang Dat, 2019. "Efficacy of N -Methyl- N -Nitrosourea Mutation on Physicochemical Properties, Phytochemicals, and Momilactones A and B in Rice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Mohammad Wais Azimy & Ghulam Dastgir Khan & Yuichiro Yoshida & Keisuke Kawata, 2020. "Measuring the Impacts of Saffron Production Promotion Measures on Farmers’ Policy Acceptance Probability: A Randomized Conjoint Field Experiment in Herat Province, Afghanistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Sayed Alim Samim & Zhiquan Hu & Sebastian Stepien & Sayed Younus Amini & Ramin Rayee & Kunyu Niu & George Mgendi, 2021. "Food Insecurity and Related Factors among Farming Families in Takhar Region, Afghanistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Kifayatullah Kakar & Tran Dang Xuan & Nguyen Van Quan & Imran Khan Wafa & Hoang-Dung Tran & Tran Dang Khanh & Tran Dang Dat, 2019. "Efficacy of N -methyl- N -nitrosourea (MNU) Mutation on Enhancing the Yield and Quality of Rice," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Ramin Rayee & Tran Dang Xuan & Tran Dang Khanh & Hoang-Dung Tran & Kakar Kifayatullah, 2021. "Efficacy of Irrigation Interval after Anthesis on Grain Quality, Alkali Digestion, and Gel Consistency of Rice," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-9, April.
    6. Kifayatullah Kakar & Tran Dang Xuan & Zubair Noori & Shafiqullah Aryan & Gulbuddin Gulab, 2020. "Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer Application on Growth, Yield, and Grain Quality of Rice," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-11, November.
    7. Rahmatullah Hashimi & Eri Matsuura & Masakazu Komatsuzaki, 2020. "Effects of Cultivating Rice and Wheat with and without Organic Fertilizer Application on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Soil Quality in Khost, Afghanistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Kifayatullah Kakar & Tran Dang Xuan & Saidajan Abdiani & Imran Khan Wafa & Zubair Noori & Shakeib Attai & Tran Dang Khanh & Hoang-Dung Tran, 2019. "Morphological Observation and Correlation of Growth and Yield Characteristics with Grain Quality and Antioxidant Activities in Exotic Rice Varieties of Afghanistan," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:17:y:2025:i:10:p:45. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.