Production technology, efficiency, and productivity of cereal farms: Prospects for enhancing farm performance in Ghana

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the cereal subsector in Ghana has contributed immensely to food security in the country. However, limited evidence exists on the production performance of this subsector, particularly in terms of heterogeneities across agro-ecological zones. This paper analyzes the production technology and performance of the cereal subsector in Ghana using a nationally representative data set from 26,449 cereal farms and the meta-stochastic frontier approach. The empirical results suggest that the estimated factor inputs contribute substantially to cereal output, with land and seed exerting the highest impacts across all agro-ecological zones. The evidence further shows that the agro-ecology of cereal farms plays a crucial role in the performance of the subsector. The mean technical efficiency estimates strongly suggest that cereal farms in all agro-ecologies exhibit some degrees of production inefficiency. The findings further reveal total output from the meta-frontier to be much superior to those generated by cereal farms in all agro-ecologies of Ghana, indicating the existence of opportunities for cereal output gains in all agro-ecologies. We find heterogeneities in farm management practices and production technology across the various crops and agro-ecological zones to be relevant sources for cereal productivity growth in Ghana.