Open AccessResource-use efficiency in maize production: the case of smallholder farmers in Ghana
Author(s) -
Frank Osei Danquah,
Guangwen He,
Lady Nadia Frempong,
Bright Asiamah Korankye
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
agronomía colombiana/agronomía colombiana
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.242
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2357-3732
pISSN - 0120-9965
DOI - 10.15446/agron.colomb.v38n3.85069
Subject(s) - marginal value , marginal product , production (economics) , productivity , agricultural science , business , resource (disambiguation) , product (mathematics) , agricultural economics , scale (ratio) , fertilizer , agroforestry , economics , agronomy , geography , environmental science , mathematics , biology , computer network , geometry , computer science , macroeconomics , microeconomics , cartography
This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency with which smallholder maize farmers use their input resources such as land, labor, capital, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and improved seed in maize production. The study used the multi-stage sampling technique to collect cross-sectional data from 600 smallholder maize producers from the northern, Brong-Ahafo, eastern, and central regions of Ghana. This study employed the marginal value product (MVP) to marginal factor cost (MFC) ratio (MVP/MFC) of the input resources. The results revealed an increased return to scale, meaning smallholder maize farmers in the pooled sample and the studied regions should enlarge their production scale by about 3.2%, 2.2%, 7.6%, 6.8%, and 2.8%, respectively, to maximize productivity. The results also revealed that resource inputs like fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, improved seed, and land were underutilized. Therefore, these resources need to be increased if smallholder maize farmers in the pooled sample want to be efficient in their production. Labor and capital were over-utilized and needed to be reduced to increase efficiency in the farmers' maize production.