5.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
POLICY IMPLICATION
5.1 CONCLUSION
In the stochastic production frontier model, this study showed
that each of the inputs had a significant positive effect on maize
productivity. In the technical inefficiency model, we established that
education, age and the dummy variable for land title positively and
significantly influenced the productivity and technical efficiency of
smallholder maize farms in Gisagara district. The implication is that
households headed by older and educated people were more efficient compared to
those headed by younger and less educated persons. Households which had land
titles proved to be more efficient than those without land titles.
The findings also revealed that land fragmentation (defined in
terms of the number of plots per household) had a significant negative effect
on the productivity and technical efficiency of smallholder maize. This finding
conforms to the findings of Bizimana (2004). The joint test confirmed the
significance of the three indicators of land fragmentation (Plot size, Number
of plots and distance from residences to the plots). Generally, land
fragmentation increased the inefficiency of farmers.
This study had two innovations. Firstly, it managed to model
all the indicators of land fragmentation and analyzed their individual as well
as joint effects on the productivity and technical efficiency of farms.
Secondly, it employed the stochastic production approach which was thought to
give more consistent results given its power to deal with measurement errors
and other statistical noise.
Though smallholder maize farms were found to be technically
efficient, their efficiency levels would be improved if land fragmentation
effects were mitigated. The main conclusion is that land fragmentation affects
the productivity and technical efficiency of farms but the various dimensions
of land fragmentation affect productivity and efficiency differently. The
number of plots negatively affected the productivity and technical efficiency
of farms; Distance to plots and size of the plot had no significant effect on
technical efficiency of farms.
In terms of productivity, this study found out that farm size
positively affected the productivity of farms, having many plots reduced
productivity and distance to plots did not have a significant effect on
productivity and the interaction term () also had no significant effect
suggesting that land fragmentation is probably not a big problem as long as
plots are close to homes.
5.2 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Any future study should try to capture several inputs such as
fertilizers; family and hired labour, pesticides among others. The study
suggests that any future research about the subject should use a larger sample
size and panel data as well as broaden the model to capture several variables
(such as access to credit and belonging to cooperatives and/or farmers'
associations) that may be thought to influence the efficiency of smallholder
farms in Rwanda. The study also suggests that future studies should try to
study the efficiency of farms by capturing all farm activities (all crops and
livestock) rather than concentrating on a single (representative) crop.
Finally, this study support the view that future studies should concurrently
investigate technical efficiency and allocative efficiency (or generally,
economic efficiency) of farms. This will perhaps provide more insights about
the subject.
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