Abstracto

Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of Beans Production among Smallholder Farmers in Rwanda

Mulinga Narcisse*, Karangwa Antoine and Ngabitsinze Jean Chrysostome

Beans are still largely a subsistence food crop under promotion for a food security especially in urban areas and source of income. In a bid to attain self-sufficiency, the country made remarkable efforts to develop the subsector. These were mainly directed towards the expansion of the area under beans, organisation of farmers’ cooperatives and easy access to inputs. In Improving beans productivity and marketing of beans several both public and private interventions were added in Nyanza and Bugesera districts those interventions include breeding, distributions of improved seed that are pest and diseases resistant and promotion good agricultural practices. Despite efforts put up by the Government of Rwanda and other stakeholders, beans still faces low productivity compared to the expected potential yields and the actual yield. The objectives of this study were to estimate the technical efficiency level in beans production in both Nyanza and Bugesera districts and to determine some socio-economic factors affecting technical efficiency of beans producers in Rwanda. Primary and secondary data were used. Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) with the Cobb-Douglas function on a random sample of 276 beans farmers. The findings indicated that the mean technical efficiency for beans production in both districts is 23% which means that farmers can increase their output through efficient use of available resources and existing technology if they are to be technically efficient. The study concluded that age, educational level, fertilizers, labor, land size, seeds, visit of agent of extensions and access to credit were significant variables leading to technical inefficiency in Rwanda. On the other hand, family size, type of seeds, and experience, had no significant impact on farmers' efficiency. To increase technical efficiency for beans production in the Rwanda, the study recommended improvement in education level of the farmers and availability of funds in the optimum time besides on these a review of agricultural policy with regard to renewed public support to revamp the agricultural extension system, which has been neglected since long time, will be required.