Improving agricultural productivity is crucial for food security and rural livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption of improved maize varieties (IMV) offers significant potential for yield gains, yet adoption rates remain suboptimal and the full productivity benefits are often not realized due to efficiency gaps. This study, aimed to provide valuable insights in to farmers’ adoption and technical efficiency among smallholder maize farmers in the South Region of Ethiopia, by identifying the factors that influence a farmer’s decision to use improved technology and their technical efficiency. Primary data were collected from 385 smallholder maize farmers. The analysis utilized a binary probit model to identify adoption determinants, stochastic frontier analysis to estimate group-specific production functions, meta-frontier analysis to calculate technology gap ratios (TGR) and meta-technology efficiency (MTE), and Tobit regression to analyze determinants of efficiency within each group. The results showed that adoption is significantly influenced by gender (male), age, family size, livestock ownership, landholding size, and frequency of extension contact. Conversely, higher input prices (NBSP, Urea, improved seed) and participation in off-farm activities decrease the likelihood of adoption. Extension contact was found to be the strongest positive predictor. Both groups of farmers exhibited decreasing returns to scale (adopters: 0.77, non-adopters: 0.71). Family size had a negative impact on efficiency for both groups, while off-farm income had a positive influence on efficiency. Recommendations for improving efficiency include input subsidies, access to credit, and enhancing the quality of extension services by regional, zonal and district level governmental organizations.
Kusse et al. (Mon,) studied this question.