Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Small Scale Tea Production in Nandi Hills – Nandi County: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach
- June 26, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: Economics, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Daniel Kipruto Tuitoek1*, Clement Cheruiyot Tison2, Lydia Jebichii3
1,2Department of Economic, Moi University, Kenya
3Department of Agricultural Economics and Resource Management, Moi University, Kenya
*Corresponding address
Abstract: Tea production has largely spread from its original land of China to so many parts of the world. Since tea was discovered in China, it has travelled the world conquering the thirsts of virtually every country on the planet. Tea is the most popular beverage in the world as well as the healthiest. It has become one of the most important economic activities to the small-scale farmers in Kenya and employs greater population in other related businesses. However, production in this sector doesn’t match the high demand in the market and socio-economic sustainability of the livelihood. This study is therefore set to analyze the technical efficiency in small-scale tea production in Nandi Hills region, Nandi County and suggest the necessary measures that should be adopted by farmers to improve their production efficiency. This study was based in Nandi County from where the primary data was sourced from farmers in the field and was supplemented by secondary data that was also elicited from journals, research reports, Government reports, website among others. Purposive sampling was used to select farmers and was appended by simple random sampling to form a sample frame of 40 farmers. Data was collected from tea farmers between July and September 2014 by use of pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires administered by the researcher. Information on yields and inputs used to grow tea by each household were collected. Descriptive data analysis was used to describe qualitative data while quantitative data was also analyzed using inferential statistics both done by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models. This study hypothesized that small-scale tea production is economically inefficient, and its key limitation is the time limit for the study. It also assumed that data collection and analysis were valid and reliable.DEA model was used to determine the technical relationship between inputs and outputs. The study’s significance was to draw out policies and recommendations that may be provided to farmers to improve efficiency in production. The main finding is efficiency scores of tea production varied widely ranging from 0.1093750 to 1.0. Farmers who allocated small parcel of land to tea production were more efficient. Economic factors such as size of land and land allocated to tea significantly determined the level of technical efficiency of tea production in Nandi Hills.
Key Words: Tea Production, DEA, Technical Efficiency, Small-Scale Farmers, Nandi County
