On the Estimation of Technical Efficiency of Tomato Growers in Malakand, Pakistan

This paper estimated and examined technical efficiency of tomato growers in Malakand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A sample of 120 tomato growers was selected employing multistage sampling technique. An interview schedule was used for data collection during November-January, 2016. Maximum likelihood technique was used for the estimation of the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production model. After running various econometrics software the output of the Frontier 4.1 was found good fit. The findings of the study showed that technical efficiency ranges from 0.83 to 0.99 with the mean technical efficiency of 0.93. The findings further shows that among the inefficiency factors experience was significantly contributing to the technical efficiency of the farmers. On the basis of this study it is recommended that tomato growers in the study area need to increase the number of seedling for the purpose to increase the productivity. It is further recommended that government should provide training facilities to the farmers to improve their skills, as a results of which the productivity will be increased.