Productivity and Technical Efficiency Variability among Small-Holder Cotton Farmers in Tanzania

Abstract

This study assessed the productivity and technical efficiency variability among small-holder cotton farmers in Bunda district, Tanzania. The efficiency analysis results have shown that the scores of technical efficiency sample of contract farmers varied from 1.75% to 87.07%, with an average of 46.05%. The implication of this is that there existed considerable technical deficiency in cotton farming. That is to say, usually, small-holder cotton contract farmers in the investigation region incurred loss of about 53.95% in outputs as a result of technical deficiency. The sources of inefficiency for contract farmers were experience of contract farmers, gender of household head and owning Television (TV) On the other hand, non-contract small-holder farmers’ technical efficiencies varied from 3.94% to 82.05%, having a mean of 46.79%. Usually, small-holder non-contract farmers in the investigation region incurred loss of about 53.21% in outputs as result of technical deficiency. The implication of this is that output average can be raised by at least 53.21% through the application of resources available as well as the given technology if the deficiency factors are addressed fully. The source of inefficiency for non-contract farmers is owning TV. It is recommended that young farmers need to be encouraged to join contract farming in order to get high productivity, more female headed households should be encouraged to participate in contract farming, both contract and non-contract farmers should watch TV programs which are educative and can assist them gain farm management knowledge for high productivity and lastly, ginners are required to provide more services in exchange of exclusive purchasing rights as agreed when signing contracts.