Agricultural management practices and factors affecting technical efficiency in Zimbabwe maize farming

Abstract

Integrating best management practices and improving the technical efficiency of smallholder maize farmers is critical in raising overall agricultural output. However, there is not much information, besides marginalization and high rehabilitation and maintenance costs, which adequately explains why productivity of smallholder irrigation farmers drop at very high rates. Therefore, this study measured technical efficiency, identified factors affecting technical efficiency, and identified best management practices adopted by smallholder maize irrigation farmers at Tokwane-Ngundu (Zimbabwe). The Data Envelopment Analysis, Double Bootstrap Approach in a Principal Component Regression was used. Primary data were gathered using a questionnaire. Empirical results revealed that the mean technical efficiency of the respondents was 77%, which indicated a potential for them to increase their efficiency by 30%. The factors that increased technical efficiency included human capital, extension contacts and compliance with best management practices. The policy implication of this study is the need for robust group incentive schemes to promote farmer-to-farmer skills transfer to boost the technical efficiency of smallholder maize irrigation farmers in Zimbabwe.