Gender-differentiated stochastic meta-frontier analysis of production technology heterogeneity among smallholder cassava farmers in Ghana

Abstract

This paper assesses the differences in technical efficiency of, and the cassava production systems employed by, male-managed (MMF) and female-managed (FMF) cassava farms in the Fanteakwa District of Ghana. The study employs the translog stochastic meta-frontier model to analyse data obtained from 300 randomly selected smallholder cassava farmers and finds an average metafrontier technical efficiency (MTE) of 0.06 and 0.03 among MMF and FMF respectively. The technology gap ratios (TGR) are 0.25 and 0.04 for the MMF and FMF respectively. The results suggest that both MMFs and FMFs are technically inefficient. However, the production technology operated on MMFs is relatively superior to that operated on FMFs, as shown by the relatively higher TGR for MMFs. The results also reveal that proximity to markets, extension access, off-farm economic activities and formal education are the major contributors to the technical efficiency of the farmers.