Abstract

Self-sufficiency in rice production has been an essential issue in the Liberian agriculture sector. With the increasing demand and low national productivity of rice (1.2 t/ha), Liberia remains a net importer of rice unless domestic production improves significantly. This study was conducted to analyze smallholder rice farmers’ level of efficiency and profit-loss due to allocative and technical inefficiencies. A two stage random sampling with stratification was adopted to collect data from 400 rice farmers in Central Liberia. The results show that high level of inefficiency exist with 33% of profit-loss among smallholders rice farmers due to a combination of technical and allocative inefficiencies. The average profit-loss is about 19,900 LRD/ha. Factors that are related to profit-loss and inefficiency are lack of credit and extension services and the non-usage of yield improving technologies such as high yielding improved seeds, fertilizer and herbicide. Lastly, inefficiency and profit-loss were high in upland rice production than lowland rice production.

Key words: Liberia, profit-loss, inefficiency, smallholder rice farmers.