Abstract:
The study's goals were to evaluate the technical efficiency of wheat producers and pinpoint the
elements that led to efficiency variations among smallholder farmers in the research area. It was
based on cross-sectional data obtained from 154 farmers who produce wheat using the two stage
sampling technique during the production season of 2021–2022. For data collection personal
interview through a structural interview scheduled was employed. Both descriptive and
inferential statistics with STATA 16 were used for data analysis. Technical efficiency of sampled
farmer in wheat production was estimated and analyzed by Cobb-Douglas functional form in
stochastic frontier model (SFM) with single stage estimation method. The estimated SFM
indicated that input and inefficiency variables. Market information (have market information),
membership to cooperatives (member) at 1 percent of significance level and credit access (have
got credit) at 5 percent of significance level have positive influence on the level of technical
inefficiency in wheat production. The production of wheat by sampled farmer was characteristics
in increasing return to scale 1. The estimated gamma (γ) parameter was about 0.679. The
estimated mean level of TE of wheat producers was 0.726.Among the farm specific
socioeconomic and institutional factors hypothesized to affect TE, education status (literate),land
fragmentation, slope (gentle), and distance to development center at 1 percent of significance
level have negative influence on the level of technical inefficiency. Therefore, the study suggested
the above mentioned significant variables have important for policy implications in that
development programs may give fruitful attention so as to mitigate the existing level of
inefficiency of farmers in the production of wheat in study area.
