Analysis of factors affecting the technical efficiency of arabica coffee producers in Cameroon

Amadou Nchare

No RP_163, Research Papers from African Economic Research Consortium

Abstract: This study analyses the factors influencing the technical efficiency of arabica coffee farmers in Cameroon. To carry out this analysis, a translog stochastic production frontier function, in which technical inefficiency effects are specified to be functions of socioeconomic variables, is estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. The data used were collected from a sample of 140 farmers during the 2004 crop year. The results obtained show some increasing returns to scale in coffee production. The mean technical efficiency index is estimated at 0.896, and 32% of the farmers surveyed have technical efficiency indexes of less than 0.91. The analysis also reveals that the educational level of the farmer and access to credit are the major socioeconomic variables influencing the farmers’ technical efficiency. Finally, the findings prove that further productivity gains linked to the improvement of technical efficiency may still be realized in coffee production in Cameroon.

Keywords: Technical efficiency; stochastic production frontier; arabica coffee; Cameroon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q18 C21 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr, nep-dev and nep-eff
Date: Written 2007-01

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