Technical efficiency evaluation of maize production in Ghana using three-stage data envelopment analysis

Abstract

Maize constitutes the primary source of revenue and food for small-scale farmers, and to attain maize self-sufficiency, appropriate production techniques must be employed, coupled with the scaling up of production efficiency in Ghana. This study describes the socio-economic status of maize-producing households and utilizes the three-stage DEA Malmquist model to estimate the technical efficiency and the trend in total factor productivity of maize production. The study examined available data on maize production acquired from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, along with environmental variables sourced from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. The study covered the period from 2010/11 to 2020/21 cropping seasons and focused on 48 cities in six regions: Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Eastern, and Central. The results revealed that the Volta region exhibits the highest educational achievement among households engaged in maize production, whereas the Upper West region demonstrates the lowest level of educational attainment. Also, on-farm employment served as the main source of income for the majority in the Northern region. The Northern region demonstrates a thriving agribusiness sector, closely followed by the Eastern region. The results displayed a fairly high level of TE, and environmental factors significantly influence production efficiency. The study revealed that the TE of maize cultivation was 0.752 and 0.853 for the first and third stages, respectively. From the findings, the efficiency scores attained after the adjustments to the input in the third stage of the DEA model were greater than those in the first stage. Also, the results indicated the eastern region had the highest TE score of 0.960 and serves as the finest region for maize cultivation. Overall, there has been a positive trend (>1) in the technical performance of maize cultivation, with a productivity increase of 1.012. The Eastern region achieved the highest efficiency performance and technological progress, as indicated by a TFP value of 1.098. The results of maize growing have policy implications for resource efficiency improvement. Policy suggestions include education about the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties and effective diffusion of information on sustainable production practices primarily for farmers living in susceptible areas to enhance their productivity, profitability of maize farming, and improvements in their food security status. To enhance the efficiency of farmers, it is vital for the government to implement streamlined monitoring systems for village savings and loan (VSL) organizations and FBOs since these institutions provide monetary assistance to farmers during the production seasons which improves farmers’ socioeconomic status.