Abstract:

An investigation into the technical efficiency of smallholder out-grower tea farmers of Chipinge district, Zimbabwe was carried out. The method employed was the Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) approach on 50 smallholder out-grower farmers collected in November, 2013. The estimates of technical efficiencies of the farmers range from 0.37 to 1.0 while the mean technical efficiency was found to be 0.79. This suggests that 21 % of smallholder out-grower tea output is lost because of inefficiency. Experience in tea farming, area under tea production, amount of fertiliser used in production, access to extension services, extent of farm commercialization, amount of labour used in production and yield of tea significantly affect technical efficiency among smallholder out-grower tea farms. The study results imply that improvement in technical efficiency should be the first logical step for increasing productivity in smallholder out-grower tea farming in Chipinge district.

Keywords: Data Envelope Analysis, technical efficiency, smallholder out-grower tea farmers.

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