Efficiency differentials in the traditional agriculture of Northern Nigeria

It is generally accepted that farmers operating in traditional agricultural systems are highly efficient, given the resources and technology available to them. This has led to farm policies in third world countries which place a high emphasis on capital investments.This paper uses a frontier production function analysis to generate firm specific efficiency indices for traditional farms in three different areas in northern Nigeria. Computed indices are then employed in identifying both inter- and intra-area efficiency differentials. The relationships between technical efficiency and commonly used farm performance measures are also examined.The results indicate that efficiency scores range between 0·67 and 1·00. This implies that least efficient farmers could have obtained gross value of output 24–36% above their actual output. Thus, the results reported in this paper are not in total support of the conventional belief that no increase in traditional agricultural output is possible by a more efficient use of factors at the disposal of farmers. One implication of these findings is that extension programmes based on the experience of more successful farmers, even with traditional practice, can yield modest dividends.