Abstract

The technical efficiency of the small scale sugarcane farmers of Swaziland is investigated using stochastic frontier production functions for Vuvulane scheme and Big bend individual farmers. The stochastic production frontier function model of the Cobb-douglas type used incorporates a model for the technical inefficiency effects. Farm-level cross-sectional data were collected from 40 sugarcane schemes and 35 individual sugarcane farmers. The results revealed some technical efficiency levels of the sample farmers that are varied widely. For the Vuvulane sugarcane farmers, efficiency ranges from 37.5 to 99.9% with a mean of 73.6%, whilst for the Big bend sugarcane farmers it ranges from 71 to 94.4% with a mean value of about 86%. The sugarcane farmers at Vuvulane over-utilized land. Thus, an appropriate amount of land utilization could increase the sugarcane production for Vuvulane sugarcane farmers. For both groups of farmers, the technical inefficiency decreased with increased farm size, education and age of the sugarcane farmer, but increased when small scale sugarcane farmers engaged in off-farm income earning activities.

Key words: Technical efficiency, sugarcane, stochastic frontier function.