ISSN 2375-0693
African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 10 (1), pp. 001-009, January, 2022. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Technical, allocative and economic efficiencies of keeping newly introduced chicken strains among smallholder farmers in selected areas of Tanzania: an application of stochastic data envelopment analysis approach
Rogers Andrew1, Jeremia Makindara2 andYohana J Mgale3
Department of Rural Development and Regional Planning, Institute of Rural Development and Planning, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Department of Business Management, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Department of Rural Development and Regional Planning, Institute of Rural Development and Planning, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Accepted 04 November, 2021
Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate the technical, allocative and economic efficiency of keeping introduced chicken strain; Kuroiler and Sasso at the farm level by using the input constrained Stochastic Data Envelopment Analysis. Data were collected from farmers who participated in the African Chicken Genetic Gain project. The study applied a developmental research design, which involved providing of pre-brooded chicks to farmers in selected sites. The on-farm test involved a total of 202 farmers who were provided with six weeks old chicks. The findings show that farmers in the study sites were technically, allocatively and economically inefficient. The mean technical, allocative and economic efficiency indices were 19.9%, 68.8% and 12.9% respectively. In this regard, the study confirms the hypothesis that on average, smallholder chicken farmers were economically inefficient leading to the conclusion that there is considerable scope to improve chicken production and productivity through improving economic efficiency in input allocation and use. It is therefore, recommended that scaling up of the introduced chicken strains must be integrated with technical knowledge to ensure efficiency improves in keeping the introduced chicken strains. Moreover, actors in the poultry sub-sector should create better market information systems for efficient input procurement and sale of outputs.
Keywords: Economic Efficiency, Stochastic DEA, Chicken Strains, Farm level.