Profit Efficiency of Small Scale Yam Production in Northern Ghana (Published)
Contribution made by small scale yam producers in Northern Ghana cannot be over emphasis, however very little attention is given to their profit efficiency and its determinants. This research used the stochastic efficiency frontier model to identify the level of yam farmers profit efficiency. Multistage random sampling method was adopted to obtain 225 small scale yam farmers across northern Ghana. On average, the profit efficiency of yam farmers was 56.75% in the study area with a minimum and maximum efficiency of 20% and 100% respectively. This implies there is an opportunity to increase profit by 43.25%. The inefficiency model showed that sex, household size, educational level, extension access and land ownership have negative coefficients, meaning that as these variables increases the profit efficiency of the farmer increases. The variable sex inverse relation suggests that; male farmers are more efficient than their female counterparts which needs to close.
Keywords: Northern Ghana, Profit efficiency, Stochastic Profit frontier, Yam Production