Effects of Irrigation Modes on Technical Efficiency of Rice Farmers in Mali

Abstract

This study utilized a Stochastic Frontier Analysis to determine the effect of irrigation modes on Technical Efficiency of rice farmers in Mali. The survey data have been collected from 552 farmers in three rice mainly production regions during the campaign 2014-2015. The translog model is used to fit data using frontier 4.1and Stata 14 software. The results indicate that coefficient of irrigation by immersion is significant and positive which imply it influences negatively the Technical Efficiency. Meanwhile the coefficient of irrigation with total water mastery by gravity which is significant and negative influences positively the Technical Efficiency. Variables such as ownership to Segou’s region, chemical fertilizer also influence positively technical efficiency, but the use of organic fertilizer have a negative influence on technical efficiency which might be explained by the insufficient quantity and bad use of it. The average Technical Efficiency of 0.67 which suggesting potential production gains with available resources and existing technologies.