Technical efficiency of catfish (<i>Clarias gariepinus</i>) farmers in Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study estimated the technical efficiency of catfish farmers in Edo State of Nigeria. It specifically examined the socio-economic characteristics of the  catfish farmers, estimated their level of technical efficiency and examined the factors influencing the technical inefficiency of catfish production in the  study area. Data for the study were obtained from a total of 468 catfish farmers who provided useful information out of the 487 farmers interviewed  using structured questionnaires. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and inefficiency model estimated jointly with the maximum likelihood  estimate of the Stochastic Frontier production function. The results indicated a significant (p < 0.01) presence of technical inefficiency effects in  the farmers’ production. The significance of the gamma (0.979) showed that about 98% of the variation of catfish output from the production frontier  was accounted by the technical inefficiency and the average level of technical efficiency of the farmers was 0.78. The results further showed that the  farmers’ technical inefficiency were age, household size, educational levels, production experience, number of ponds and mortality of catfish. The  inefficiency of the farmers increased with increase in age and mortality of catfish, and decreased with increase in household size, educational levels, production experience and number of ponds used during production. Inefficiency in catfish production.