Open AccessDoes agricultural cooperative membership impact technical efficiency of maize production in Nigeria: An analysis correcting for biases from observed and unobserved attributes
Author(s) -
Kehinde Oluseyi Olagunju,
Adebayo Ogunniyi,
Zainab OyetundeUsman,
Abiodun Olusola Omotayo,
Bola Amoke Awotide
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0245426
Subject(s) - propensity score matching , production (economics) , agriculture , incentive , selection bias , matching (statistics) , stochastic frontier analysis , agricultural productivity , business , selection (genetic algorithm) , production–possibility frontier , agricultural policy , economics , public economics , estimation , agricultural economics , microeconomics , statistics , computer science , geography , mathematics , management , artificial intelligence , archaeology
The formation of agricultural cooperatives has been widely promoted as an agricultural development policy initiative to help smallholder farmers cope with multiple production and marketing challenges. Using a nationally representative survey dataset of smallholder maize producers from rural Nigeria, this study assesses the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on technical efficiency (TE). We based our estimation approach on the combination of a newly developed sample selection stochastic production frontier model with propensity score matching to control for possible selectivity biases from both observables and unobservables. We estimate stochastic meta-frontiers to examine TE differences between cooperative members and non-members. Our results reveal that TE levels of members are consistently higher than that of non-members. This calls for continued policy incentives targeted at encouraging farmers to form as well as participate in agricultural cooperatives.