Comparative study of technical efficiency of pineapple exporters and non exporters in the Central region of Ghana

Abstract

This study sought to determine and compare the technical efficiency in pineapple production among exporters and non-exporters using primary data collected from four districts of Central Region of Ghana. Results from the Cobb-Douglass stochastic frontier model and a farm-specific efficiency model showed that for the exporters land and labor had a positive influence on technical efficiency while chemicals and fertilizers, planting materials and annual capital charge had a negative effect. For non-export farmers, land and planting materials and annual capital charge exerted positive effect but chemicals and fertilizers and labour had negative impact on technical efficiency. The analysis also showed that pineapple exporters and non-exporters were not operating on the production frontier and scored a mean technical efficiency of 51 and 55 percent respectively. Further analysis showed that access to credit is an important factor influencing technical efficiency in pineapple production. Thus efforts aimed at making credit accessible to farmers through the promotion of farmer co-operatives and other mico-credit schemes would be very pertinent in increasing pineapple production for the home and export market.