Technical efficiency differentials in rice production technologies in Nigeria

This study examined technical efficiency differentials between farmers planting traditional rice varieties and those planting improved varieties in Nigeria. The study used a multistage random sampling procedure for the selection of 302 respondents comprising 160 traditional rice varieties and 142 improved rice varieties farmers across four major rice producing states in the country. The analytical techniques involved descriptive statistics and estimation of technical efficiency following maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) procedure available in Frontier 4.1. The various tests of statistics carried out included the T-test for equality of means for input use, socio-economic characteristics and technical efficiency between the two groups of farmers, and the Levene test for equality of variances. Results from these analyses showed that significant increase recorded in output ofrice in the country could be traced mainly to area expansion. The use of some critical inputs such as fertilizer and herbicides by the farmers were found to be below recommended quantity per hectare. There was also significant difference in the use of such input as labour between the two groups of farmers. Other variables that tend to contribute to technical efficiency are hired labour, herbicides and seeds. Fertilizer, the most critical input required for increased production, was found not to have contributed significantly to technical efficiency. The estimated average technical efficiencies for the two groups were correspondingly high (>0.90), which indicated that there is little opportunity for increased efficiency given the present state of technology. The test of hypothesis on the differentials in technical efficiency between the two groups of farmers showed that there was no absolute differential. The lack of differential in technical efficiency between the two groups puts to question the much expected impact of the decades of rice development programmes in Nigeria. This study therefore recommendes that all forms of obstacles that could constrain the use of inputs should be removed. This should include complete liberalization of the procurement and distribution of such input and the development of some low-cost labour saving technologies to ease labour constraints on farms.