Socio-economic and institutional factors underlying efficiency of smallholder vegetable farms in Southwest region of Cameroon

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of vegetable farmers within the tree-crop based rainforest agro-ecological zone in Southwest region of Cameroon. Design/methodology/approach The non-parametric data envelopment analysis method was used to evaluate technical and scale efficiencies while the Tobit model was used to identify factors affecting efficiency of vegetable production. Findings An econometric analysis result indicates that family size, education and extension service have significant impact on both technical and scale efficiencies, whereas credit service has significant impact on scale efficiency. Practical implications Future agricultural policies could include measures to improve the capacity of farmers to efficiently use existing resources. Social implications The study highlighted that encouraging more people to engage in farm labor and facilitating smallholder access to microcredit could render vegetable farmers more efficient. Originality/value In Cameroon, only a few studies have been conducted on technical efficiency. These encompass mainly cash and food crops. To the best of our knowledge, no single study has measured technical efficiency of vegetable farmers in forest-based farming of Cameroon.