Effect of Urea Deep Placement Technology Adoption on the Production Frontier: Evidence from Irrigation Rice Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 32769
Effect of Urea Deep Placement Technology Adoption on the Production Frontier: Evidence from Irrigation Rice Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana

Authors: Shaibu Baanni Azumah, William Adzawla

Abstract:

Rice is an important staple crop, with current demand higher than the domestic supply in Ghana. This has led to a high and unfavourable import bill. Therefore, recent policies and interventions in the agricultural sub-sector aim at promoting various improved agricultural technologies in order to improve domestic production and reduce the importation of rice. In this study, we examined the effect of the adoption of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology by rice farmers on the position of the production frontier. This involved 200 farmers selected through a multi stage sampling technique in the Northern region of Ghana. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was fitted. The result showed that the adoption of UDP technology shifts the output frontier outward and also move the farmers closer to the frontier. Farmers were also operating under diminishing returns to scale which calls for redress. Other factors that significantly influenced rice production were farm size, labour, use of certified seeds and NPK fertilizer. Although there was an opportunity for improvement, the farmers were highly efficient (92%), compared to previous studies. Farmers’ efficiency was improved through increased education, household size, experience, access to credit, and lack of extension service provision by MoFA. The study recommends the revision of Ghana’s agricultural policy to include the UDP technology. Agricultural Extension officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) should be trained on the UDP technology to support IFDC’s drive to improve adoption by rice farmers. Rice farmers are also encouraged to expand their farm lands, improve plant population, and also increase the usage of fertilizer to improve yields. Mechanisms through which credit can be made easily accessible and effectively utilised should be identified and promoted.

Keywords: Efficiency, rice farmers, stochastic frontier, UDP technology.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1130019

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 879

References:


[1] Abdallah, A. H. (2016). Agricultural credit and technical efficiency in Ghana: is there a nexus? Agricultural Finance Review, 76 (2), 309–324; http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/AFR-01-2016-0002 (Accessed 2016).
[2] Abdul-Ganiyu, S., Amaanatu, M.K., and Korese, J.K. (2012).Water use efficiency and productivity for rice (Oryza sativa) in the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme of Northern Region of Ghana. Agricultural Science Research Journals. Vol. 2(7), pp. 362-368.
[3] Addison, M., Ohene-Yankyera, K. and Fredua-Antoh, E. (2016). Gender Role, Input Use and Technical Efficiency among Rice Farmers at Ahafo Ano North District in Ashanti Region of Ghana. Journal of Food Security, 4(2); 27-35; DOI:10.12691/jfs-4-2-1.
[4] Adzawla, W., Donkoh, S.A., Nyarko, G., O'Reilly, P., Olayide, O.E, and Awai, P.E, (2015). Technical Efficiency of Bambara Groundnut Production in Northern Ghana. UDS International Journal of Development (UDSIJD), 2(2), 37-49.
[5] Aigner, D. J., Lovell, C. A. K. and Schmidt, P. (1977). Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 6, pp. 21–37.
[6] Akaike, H. (1974). A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE transactions on Automatic Control, 19: 716-723.
[7] Al-hassan, S. (2012). Technical Efficiency in Smallholder Paddy Farms in Ghana: An Analysis Based on Different Farming Systems and Gender. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 3(5); 91-105.
[8] Anang, B. T., Bäckman, S. and Sipiläinen, T. (2016). Agricultural microcredit and technical efficiency: The case of smallholder rice farmers in Northern Ghana. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics, 117(2); 189–202.
[9] Angelucci, F., Asante-Poku, A., & Anaadumba, P. (2013). Analysis of incentives and disincentives for rice in Ghana. Technical notes series, MAFAP, FAO, Rome.
[10] Asante, B. O. Osei, M. K. Dankyi, A. A. Berchie, J. N. Mochiah, M. B. Lamptey, J. N. L., Haleegoah, J. Osei K. and Bolfrey-Arku G. (2013). Producer characteristics and determinants of technical efficiency of tomato based production systems in Ghana. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 5(3); 92-103, DOI: 10.5897/JDAE12.054.
[11] Battese, G. E. and Coelli, T. J. (1988). Prediction of firm level technical efficiencies with generalized frontier production function and panel data. Journal of econometrics, Vol. 38, pp. 337-399.
[12] Battese, G.E., (1992). Frontier production functions and technical efficiency: a survey of empirical applications in agricultural economics. Agricultural Economics, 7: 185-208.
[13] Braimah, I., King, R. S., and Sulemana, D. M. (2014). Community-based participatory irrigation management at local government level in Ghana. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance Issue 15: June 2014. http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/cjlg (Accessed 2016).
[14] Coelli, T. J., Rao, D.S., O'Donnell, P., C. J. and Battese G. E. (2005). An introduction to efficiency and productivity analysis. Second Edition, Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA.
[15] Coelli, T. Rahman, S. and Thirtle C. (2002). Technical, Allocative, Cost and Scale Efficiencies in Bangladesh Rice Cultivation: A Non-parametric Approach. Journal of Agricultural Economics 53(3): 607-626.
[16] Donkor, E. and Owusu, V. (2014). Effects of land tenure systems on resource-use productivity and efficiency in Ghana’s rice industry. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 9(4), 286-299.
[17] Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2014). National Accounts Statistics. Final 2012 Gross Domestic Product & Revised 2013 Gross Domestic Product. Accessed from www.statsghana.gov.gh on 14/10/2016.
[18] Hasnain, N., Hossain, E., and Islam, K. (2015). Technical Efficiency of Boro Rice Production in Meherpur District of Bangladesh: A Stochastic Frontier Approach. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 3(2): 31-37, doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20150302.14.
[19] IFDC (undated). Fertilizer-Deep-Placement technology. http://www.ifdc.org/Technologies/Fertilizer- Deep-Placement- (FDP)/ About-FDP/ (Accessed February 22, 2016).
[20] Kea, S., Li, H., and Pich, L. (2016). Technical Efficiency and Its Determinants of Rice Production in Cambodia. Economies, 4(22): 1-17; doi: 10.3390/economies4040022.
[21] Meeusen, W. and van den Broeck, J. (1977). Efficiency estimation from Cobb–Douglas production function with composed error. International Economic Review, Vol. 18, pp. 435–444.
[22] Ministry of Food and Agriculture (2011). The inventory of irrigation schemes in Ghana. Published by MoFA, Accra. Accessed from www.mofa.org.gh on 23/3 /2016.
[23] Ministry of Food and agriculture (MoFA, 2013). Agriculture in Ghana: Facts and Figures (2012). Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) (pp. 1–45). Accra.
[24] Mwatete, G. K. K., Kipkoech, A. K., Kipkorir, E. C. and Sumukwo, J. (2015). Technical efficiency differentials between rice production methods: the case of Conventional and System of Rice Intensification in West Kano Irrigation Scheme, Kenya. Journal of Agricultural and Crop Research, 3(8): 130-140.
[25] Rahman, S., and Barmon, B.K. (2014). Productivity and efficiency impacts of Urea Deep Placement technology in modern rice production: An empirical analysis from Bangladesh. Journal of Developing Areas• September 2015. DOI: 10.1353/jda.2015.0158.
[26] StataCorp. (2013). Stata: Release 13. Statistical Software. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.