Technical efficiency of small-scale honey producer in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis

Shiferaw, Kaleb and Berhanu Gebremedhin, Berhanu (2015): Technical efficiency of small-scale honey producer in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis.

Abstract

Ethiopian farmers have a long tradition of beekeeping and the country has huge potential for honey production. However traditional mode of production still dominate the sub sector which negatively affect the total production and productivity. A number of studies has been conducted to better understand the working honey production however none of them systematically investigate the extent of technical efficiency of the sub-sector. This paper uses Stochastic Frontier production model to quantifying the extent of technical efficiency and identify exogenous determinant of inefficiency. The result showed that consistent with other studies traditional practice dominate small scale honey production in Ethiopia. The finding also revealed that use of purchased inputs such as bee forage and other supplement is very limited among honey producers indicating that natural bee forage is the primary source of bee forage. The immediate consequence of all these is low production and productivity. The number of hives the household owns, whether the household used improved apiculture technologies, availability of natural forest which is the primary sources of nectar for bees and amount of land owned by the households were found to have a significant influence on the amount of honey produced by beekeeper. Our result further showed that the mean technical efficiency of honey producers is 0.79 implying that, on average honey producer produce 80 percent of the maximum output. The implication is that 20 percent of the potential output is lost due to technical inefficiency. Number of hives owned by a honey produces, distance to district town-a proxy to market access, household wealth, and whether the household head has a leadership role in the PA affect the technical efficiency of honey producers. The finding suggest that policies that aim to expand the use of improved hives is expected to increase the honey production at household level. The result also suggest that investment on rural infrastructure would be instrumental in improving technical efficiency of honey producer.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Small-scale honey producer, Ethiopia, technical efficiency in apiculture, stochastic frontier analysis
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C31 - Cross-Sectional Models ; Spatial Models ; Treatment Effect Models ; Quantile Regressions ; Social Interaction Models; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q10 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

References

Aigner,D., K. Lovell, and P. Schmidt, 1977. Formulation and Estimation of Stochastic Frontier Production Function Models, Journal of Econometrics, 6, pp. 21–37.

Aigner, D., and S. Chu, 1968. On Estimating the Industry Production Function. American Economic Review, 58, pp. 826–839.

Aklilu Yacob. 2002. An audit of the livestock marketing status in Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan (volume 1). AU-IBAR (Africa Union-Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources). Nairobi, Kenya.

Amssalu, B., Nuru, A., Radloff, S.E., Hepburn, H.R. 2004. Multivariate morphometric analysis of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in the Ethiopian region. Apidologie 35, 71–81

Coelli, T. J., Rao, P. D., O’Donnell, C. J., Battese, G. E. 2005. An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis. Springer, 2nd Edition.

Battese, G., and T. Coelli, 1988. Prediction of Firm-level Technical Efficiencies with a Generalized Frontier Production Function and Panel Data. Journal of Econometrics, 38, pp. 387–399.

Charnes, A., W. W. Cooper, and E. Rhodes 1978. Measuring the Efficiency of Decision-Making Units. European Journal of Operational Research 2:6, 429-44.

Coelli, T., 1995. Estimators and Hypothesis Tests for a Stochastic Frontier Function: A Monte Carlo Analysis. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 6, pp. 247–268.

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency 2015. Agricultural Sample Survey 2014/15 (2007 E.C.) Volume II Report on Livestock and Livestock Characteristics (Private Peasant Holdings). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency 2014. Agricultural Sample Survey 2013/2014 (2006 E.C.) (September – January 2013/2014) Volume VII Report on Crop and Livestock Product Utilization (Private Peasant Holdings, Meher Season) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Finance and Economic Development 2010. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2010/11-2014/15. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Førsund, F., and E. Jansen, 1977. On Estimating Average and Best Practice Homothetic Production Functions via Cost Functions. International Economic Review, 18, pp. 463–476.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAOSTAT. FAOSTAT (Database). (Latest update: 07 Mar 2014) Accessed (15 Jul 2015). URI: http://data.fao.org/ref/262b79ca-279c-4517-93de-ee3b7c7cb553.html?version=1.0

Gallmann, P., and Thomas, H., 2012. Beekeeping and honey production in southwestern Ethiopia. URL: http://www.learningforlife.ch/media/DIR_76001/76253729aa011222ffff8015a426365.pdf. Accessed on July 15, 2015.

Gebremichael, B. and Gebremedhin, B. 2014. Perception of smallholder farmers on improved box hive technology and its profitability in Northern Ethiopia. Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development 6(12): 393-402

Gezahegne Tadesse. 2001. Beekeeping (In Amharic), Mega Printer Enterprise, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Greene W 2008. The Econometric Approach to Efficiency Analysis. In: Fried H. O, Knox Lovell C. A Schmidt S. S (eds) The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth. Oxford University Press, Oxford, Chapter 2:92-250

Kumbhakar C., S., Wang, H.-J and Horncastle, P., A. 2015. A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis using Stata. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Kumbhakar, S., and K. Lovell, 2000. Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Meeusen,W., and J. van den Broeck, 1977. Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error. International Economic Review, 18, pp. 435–444.

Melaku Girma, Shifa Ballo, Azage Tegegne, Negatu Alemayehu and Lulseged Belayhun. 2008. Approaches, methods and processes for innovative apiculture development: Experiences from Ada’a-Liben Woreda, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers Project Working Paper 8. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), Nairobi, Kenya. 48 pp.

Miklyaev, M., Jenkins, P. G. and Richard R. Barichello, R. R. 2012. Honey Production in Ethiopia: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Modern versus Traditional Beekeeping Technologies. Cambridge Resources International Inc.

Quisumbing, A. 1996. Male-Female Differences in Agricultural Productivity. World Development, 24: 1579–1595.

SOS–Sahel-Ethiopia. 2006. Smallholders apiculture development and trade promotion project terminal report Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Tessega Belie 2009. Honeybee Production and Marketing Systems, Constraints and Opportunities in Burie District of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Unpublished MSc thesis Submitted to Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Udry, C., J. Hoddinott, H. Alderman, and L. Haddad, 1995. Gender Differentials in Farm Productivity: Implications for Household Efficiency and Agricultural Policy. Food Policy 20 (5): 407–23.

Workneh Abebe, Puskur R and Karippai RS. 2008. Adopting improved box hive in Atsbi Wemberta district of Eastern Zone, Tigray Region: Determinants and financial benefits. IPMS (Improving Productivity and Market Success) of Ethiopian Farmers Project Working Paper 10. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), Nairobi, Kenya. 30 pp.