Journal of Economic Cooperation 26, 1 (2005)

Transcription

1 Journal of Economc Cooperaton 26, 1 (25) SOURCE OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AMONG SMALL HOLDER MAIZE AND PEANUT FARMERS IN THE SLASH AND BURN AGRICULTURE ZONE OF CAMEROON Joachm Nyemeck Bnam *, Jean Tonye *, Njankoua Wandj ** Measures of techncal effcency were conducted wth 45 farmers n the slash and burn zone n Cameroon. Stochastc producton fronter functons were used to compute farm-level techncal effcency (TE). The analyss reveals that the average level of techncal effcency equals to 78%, 8% and 77%, respectvely, for the groundnut monocrop, maze monocrop and maze/groundnut ntercrop systems. It also appears that the TE are nvarant across croppng practces. The results suggest that substantal gans n output and/or n cost decrease can be attaned by mprovng present techncal practces. In a second step analyss a two-lmt tobt regresson technque was used to examne the relatonshp between TE and varous farm/farmer characterstcs. The results show that schoolng and membershp to farmer s club or assocaton are varables most promsng for acton. The analyss suggests that polcymakers should foster the development of the formal farm s club or assocaton by buldng the capacty of the farmers on creaton and management sklls. The analyss also support that the publc sector nvolvement n the provson of nformaton and techncal assstance to farmers as a means to mprove techncal effcency levels and household ncome s necessary. 1. INTRODUCTION Agrculture s an mportant sector n the Cameroonan economy. Recent studes show that t accounted for as much as 3% of the gross domestc product (GDP), 7% of overall employment, and over 4% of total foregn exchange earnngs (DSCN, 22). * Insttute of Agrcultural Research for Development (IRAD), Farmng Systems, Economy and Rural Socology Dvson. Yaoundé-Messa. Republc of Cameroon. ** Internatonal Insttute of Tropcal Agrculture. Humd Forest Ecoregonal Center. Yaoundé-Messa. Republc of Cameroon.

2 194 Journal of Economc Cooperaton A sgnfcant feature of agrculture n the slash and burn zone of Cameroon s the dual structure of the farmng system, composed of farmng practces that produce perennal export crops (coffee, cocao, bananas, ol-palm), and small peasants farms that produce annual foods for subsstence and local markets. For both systems, the productvty s low. The poor performance of the forest zone agrculture s evdenced by the low standard of lvng n rural areas compared to ctes; thus, the largest concentraton of absolute poverty, llteracy and nfant mortalty s found n the countrysde (DSCN, 22). There s general agreement that a sustanable economc development depends on promotng productvty and output growth n the agrcultural sector, partcularly among small-scale producers. Emprcal evdence suggests that small farms are desrable not only because they reduce unemployment, but also because they provde a more equtable dstrbuton of ncome as well as an effectve demand structure for other sectors of the economy (Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1993, 1997). Consequently, many researchers and polcymakers have focused ther attenton on the mpact the adopton of new technologes can have on ncreasng farm productvty and ncome (Hayam and Ruttan, 1985; Kuznets, 1966). However, durng the last decade, major technologcal gans stemmng from the green revoluton have been effectve across the developng world. Ths suggests that attenton to productvty gans arsng from a more effcent use of exstng technology s justfed (Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1993, 1997; Squres and Tabor, 1991). The presence of shortfalls n effcency means that output can be ncreased wthout requrng addtonal conventonal nputs and wthout the need for new technologes. If ths s the case, then emprcal measures of effcency are necessary n order to determne the magntude of the gan that could be obtaned by mprovng performance n producton wth a gven technology. Polcy mplcaton stemmng from sgnfcant levels of neffcency s that t mght be more cost effectve to acheve short-run ncreases n farm output, and thus ncome, by concentratng on mprovng effcency rather than ntroducng new technologes (Belbase and Grabowsk, 1985; Shapro and Müller, 1977). In the slash and burn agrculture zone of Cameroon, groundnut and maze are the second and thrd most mportant food crops after cassava.

3 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 195 They are planted ether n monocrop or n assocaton. Improvng the techncal effcency (TE) of these crop-based systems wll contrbute enormously to mprovng the overall agrcultural productvty n the slash and burn zone of Cameroon. From 2 to 23, the European Unon-funded project fnancally supported not only the ntroducton of mproved groundnut and maze varetes n the slash and burn zone of Cameroon, but t also supported the study of the techncal effcency of these crop-based systems. The objectve of ths study s to assess the possbltes of productvty gans by mprovng the effcency of groundnut and mazebased systems used by farmers n the slash and burn agrculture zone of Cameroon, by estmatng a stochastc producton fronter whch provdes the bass for measurng farm-level techncal effcency (TE) and by separatng the two-lmt tobt equaton for TE estmaton as a functon of varous attrbutes of the farms/farmers n the sample. The study has polcy mplcatons because t not only provdes emprcal measures of techncal effcency ndces, but also dentfes key varables that are correlated wth these ndces. The analyss performed ths way goes beyond much of the publshed lterature concernng effcency because much research n ths area of productvty analyss focuses exclusvely on the measurement of techncal effcency (Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1993; Coell, 1995) Exstng Emprcal Studes n Afrca The lterature on productve or techncal effcency n Afrcan agrculture s emergng, but the techncal effcency of Cameroonan agrculture has not been adequately studed despte decades of polcy efforts n mprovng the agrcultural productvty of the economy. Globally, there s a wde body of emprcal research on the economc effcency of farmers both n the developed and developng countres (Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1993; Battese, 1992 and Coell, 1995). Whle the emprcal lterature on the effcency of farmers s vast n developng countres and Asan economes, few studes focus on Afrcan agrculture. Udry et al. (1995), usng detaled plot-level agronomc data from Burkna Faso, found that the value of household output could be ncreased by 1-15% by reallocatng currently used factors of producton across plots. Heshmat and Mulugeta (1996) estmated the

4 196 Journal of Economc Cooperaton techncal effcency of Uganda s matoke-producng farms and found that the matoke-producng farms face technologes wth decreasng returns to scale wth mean techncal effcency of 65 percent, but found no sgnfcant varaton n techncal effcency wth respect to farm szes. Ths study, however, does not dentfy the varous sources of techncal effcency among matoke-producng farmers. Seyoum et al. (1998) nvestgated the techncal effcency and productvty of maze producers n Ethopa and compared the performance of farmers wthn and outsde the programme of technology demonstraton. Usng Cobb-Douglas stochastc functons, ther emprcal results show that farmers that partcpate n the programme are more techncally effcent wth mean techncal effcency equal to 94 percent compared wth those outsde the project wth mean effcency equal to 79 percent. Townsend et al. (1998), usng data envelopment analyss, nvestgated the relatonshp between farm sze, return to scale and productvty among wne producers n South Afrca and found that most farmers operate under constant returns to scale, but the nverse relatonshp between farm sze and productvty s weak. Wer (1999) nvestgated the effects of educaton on farmer productvty of cereal crops n rural Ethopa usng average and stochastc producton functons. Ths study fnds substantal nternal benefts of schoolng for farmer productvty n terms of effcency gans but fnds a threshold effect that mples that at least four years of schoolng are requred to lead to sgnfcant effects on farm level techncal effcency. Usng dfferent specfcatons, average techncal effcences range between 44 and 56 per cent, and rsng educaton from zero to four years n the household leads to a 15 per cent ncrease n techncal effcency. Moreover, the study fnds evdence that average schoolng n the vllage (external benefts of schoolng) mproves techncal effcency. Nyemeck (1999), usng stochastc producton functon, nvestgated the relatonshp between some farms/farmer characterstcs among cereal crop producers n rural Cameroon. Ths study fnds that techncal effcency ranges between 76 and 78 per cent, and that the schoolng effects on techncal effency are mxed n terms of effcency gans but also fnds that the gender of the head of the household affects techncal effcency. Clearly, the study fnds that farms managed by men are more lkely to mprove techncal effcency than those managed by women.

5 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 197 Wer and Knght (2) analysed the mpact of educaton externaltes on producton and techncal effcency of farmers n rural Ethopa, and found evdence that the source of externaltes to schoolng s n the adopton and spread of nnovatons whch shft out the producton fronter. Mean techncal effcences of cereal crop farmers are 55 percent and a unt ncrease n years of schoolng boosts techncal effcency by 2.1 percentage ponts. Nonetheless, one lmtaton of the Wer (1999) and Wer and Knght (2) study s that they only nvestgated the levels of schoolng as the only source of techncal effcency. Mochebelele and Wnter-Nelson (2) nvestgated the mpact of labour mgraton on the techncal effcency performance of farms n the rural economy of Lesotho. Usng the stochastc producton functon (translog and Cobb-Douglas), the study found that households that send mgrant labour to South Afrca mnes are more effcent than households that do not send mgrant labour wth mean effcences of 36 and 24 per cent, respectvely. In addton, there s not statstcal evdence that the sze of the farm or the gender of the household head affects the effcency of farmers. Mochebelele and Wnter-Nelson (2) conclude that remttances facltate agrcultural producton, rather than substtute for t. Ths study does not consder many other household characterstcs that may affect techncal effcency such as educaton, farmers experence, access to credt facltes (captal), advsory servces and socal captal. 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1. Data and Study Area Durng the growng season, 45 farmers were vsted and ntervewed n the ol-palm, short fallow and cocoa, long fallow zones of Makak, Nkometou and Ebolowa, respectvely. Ths data set was consdered suffcent to conduct techncal effcency analyss and to run the tobt equaton. The systems chosen for the analyss are maze monocrop, groundnut monocrop and maze/groundnut ntercrop. These three systems are used by 72% of the farmers n the slash and burn zone. In some areas such as Nkometou and other vllages close to the ctes, these three systems are practced by 87% of farmers.

6 198 Journal of Economc Cooperaton 2.2. Emprcal Model Despte ts well known lmtatons, we use a Cobb-Douglas functonal form to specfy the stochastc producton fronter. In fact, Taylor et al. (1986) argued that as long as nterest rests on effcency measurement and not on the analyss of the general structure of the producton technology, the Cobb-Douglas producton functon provdes an adequate representaton of the producton technology. Moreover, n one of the very few studes examnng the mpact of functonal form on effcency, Kopp and Smth (198) concluded that functonal specfcaton has a dscernble but rather small mpact on estmated effcency. That s why the Cobb-Douglas functonal form has been wdely used n farm effcency analyses both n developng and developed countres (Battese, 1992; Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero 1993). The specfc model estmated s gven by: lny = ln A + β ln X + ε 3 = 1 where A and β I are parameters to be estmated (= 1, 3), Y s output and the X are nputs and ε s defned as above. A more detaled defnton of these varables s gven below. The output varable n equaton (1), Y, s the producton level obtaned of groundnut or maze measured n kg. The varable X 1 ncludes the cultvated land, multpled by a sol fertlty ndex 1 (Kalrajan and Shand 21; Rahman, 23), X 2 ncludes famly and hred labour measured n man-day, X 3 corresponds to the captal used (total expendtures on seeds and small farm tools for the year) measured n CFA francs. The explanatory varables ncluded n ths model have been commonly used n estmatng agrcultural producton fronters for developng countres (Kalrajan and Flnn, 1985; Phllps and Marbes, 1986; Taylor et al., 1986; Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1997; Nyemeck, et al., 23) and partcularly n the slash and burn agrculture zone of Cameroon (Adesna et al., 2; Nkamleu and Adesna, 2). 1 The sol fertlty ndex s constructed from test results of sol samples collected from the study vllages durng the feld survey. Eght sol fertlty parameters were tested. These are: sol ph, avalable ntrogen, avalable potassum, avalable phosphorus, avalable sulphur, avalable znc, sol texture, and sol organc matter content. A hgh ndex value refers to better sol fertlty. (1)

7 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 199 The essental dea behnd the stochastc fronter model s that ε s a composed error term (Agner, Lovell, and Schmdt, 1977; Meeusen and Van Den Broeck, 1977). Ths term can be wrtten as: ε = v u (2) where v s a two-sde (- < ν < ) normally dstrbuted random error 2 ( v ~ N[, σ v ]) that captures the stochastc effects outsde the farmer s control (e.g., weather, natural dsasters, and luck), measurement errors, and other statstcal nose. The term u s a one-sde ( u ) effcency component that captures the techncal neffcency of the farmer. Ths one-sde term can follow such dstrbutons as half-normal, exponental, and gamma (Agner, Lovell, and Schmdt, 1977; Greene, 198; Meeusen and Van Den Broeck, 1977). In ths paper, t s assumed that u follows a 2 half-normal dstrbuton ( u ~ [, σ u ]) as typcally done n the appled stochastc fronter lterature. The two components u and v are also assumed to be ndependent of each other. The maxmum lkelhood estmaton of equaton (1) yelds consstent estmators for A, β, σ 2 2 σ, and γ, where β, σ 2 σ 2 σ 2 u = v + u, γ = are 2 σ estmated. Jondrow et al. (1982) have shown that nferences about the techncal effcency of ndvdual farmers can be made by consderng the condtonal dstrbuton of u gven the ftted values of ε, and the respectve parameters. In other words, gven the dstrbuton assumed for ν and u, and assumng that these two components are ndependent of each other, accordng to Battese and Corra (1977), the farm-specfc estmates of techncal effcency are defned by: TE = { exp( / ε )} * * [ σ γε / σ ] * Φ[ γε / σu ] 1 u u E u = Φ * 2 exp( γε + σu ) 2 where Φ s the cumulatve functon of the standard normal varable, * 2 σ u = γ ( 1 γ ) σ ε s an estmated parameter of the condtonal dstrbuton u / ε. The mean techncal effcency of all farms n a system s gven by: (3)

8 2 Journal of Economc Cooperaton [ σ + ( µ / σ )] ( µ / σ ) 1 Φ 1 2 TE = exp µ + σ (4) 1 Φ 2 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. The Stochastc Fronter Model Results Based on the model dscussed n the methodology secton, Table 1 presents maxmum lkelhood (ML) estmates of the stochastc producton fronter. Results found n ths study are smlar to the fndngs of the producton fronter lterature (Bravo-Ureta and Evenson, 1994). Moreover, all parameter estmates are statstcally sgnfcant at the 1 percent level for the three models. TABLE 1: MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD (ML) PARAMETER ESTIMATES Models Groundnut Groundnut/ Maze Maze Independent Monocrop Mx Monocrop Varable Coeffcent N = 15 N = 15 N = 15 Intercept ln X 1 ln X 2 ln X 3 β β 1 β 2 β *** (1.13).4 *** (3.6).31 *** (2.8).32 *** (3.7) 5.9 *** (33.4).44 *** (7.7).29 *** (9.8).24 *** (5.4) 4.1 *** (11.6).12 *** (21.8).45 *** (1.2).4 *** (6.5) σ 2.21 ** (2.7).22 *** (5.1).42 *** (5.9) γ.88 ** (-2.13).99 ** (-2.32).99 ** (-2.27) 2 χ ( 1) ** p<.5, *** P< Furthermore, a set of hypothess that there are no techncal neffcency effects n the models was tested. The null hypothess that γ = s rejected at the 5% level of sgnfcance n all cases confrmng that neffcency exsts and s ndeed stochastc (LR statstcs 3.98, 13.38, and 6.3 > χ 2 (1,.95) = ) 2 See Coell et al., (1998).

9 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 21 The estmated values of γ are.88,.99 and.99, whch means respectvely that 88% and 99% of the total varaton n farms output s due to techncal neffcency n the dfferent croppng systems. The results also ndcate that techncal effcency (TE) ndces range from 51 to 94% for the groundnut monocrop system, wth an average of 78% (Table 2). Ths ndcates that f the average farmer n the sample was to acheve the TE level of ts most effcent counterpart, then the average farmer could realse 17% cost savngs (.e. 1-[78/94]). TABLE 2: FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY Effcency (%) Croppng Systems Mono groundnut Inter groundnut/maze Mono maze Frequency (%) Frequency (%) Frequency (%) φ 95 φ 9 95 φ 85 9 φ 8 85 φ 75 8 φ 7 75 φ 65 7 φ 6 65 φ 55 6 φ 5 55 φ 45 5 φ 4 45 φ 35 4 φ 3 35 φ Mean (%) C. V (%) Mnmum (%) Maxmum (%) A smlar calculaton for the most techncally neffcent farmer reveals cost savngs of 46 % (.e. 1-[51/94]). Table 2 also shows that TE ranges from 52 to 99% and 53 to 99% respectvely for maze/groundnut ntercrop and maze monocrop systems, wth an average of 77 and 8%. Ths means that f the average farmer n nter croppng system was to acheve the TE level of ts most effcent counterpart, then the average farmer could realse a 22% cost savngs (.e. 1-[77/99]). The same croppng system reveals cost savngs of 48% for the most techncally neffcent farmer.

10 22 Journal of Economc Cooperaton A smlar calculaton ndcates that f the average farmer n the maze monocrop system was to acheve the TE level of ts most effcent counterpart n the sample, then the average farmer could realse a 19% cost savngs. Moreover, the most techncally neffcent farmer n that croppng system could realse a 47% cost savngs. TABLE 3: ANOVA TEST OF TE INDICES ACROSS DIFFERENT CROPPING SYSTEMS Test BARTLETT ANOVA Dstrbuton Computed value 2 χ ( 2) F (2,447) Crtque value 5% Null hypothess H ( a ) Accepted Accepted ( a 2 ): H : σ 2 = σ 2 = σ for BARTLETT test H : TE 1 = TE 2 = TE 3 for ANOVA test. No sgnfcant dfferences were found between the means of TE ndces among croppng systems (Table 3). Ths means that TE ndces are ndependent of the croppng practces n humd and forest zone n Cameroon. As exstng emprcal studes n Afrca show that 77, 78 and 8 per cent means of techncal effcency found n ths study are n lne wth the fndng reported by others. For polcy purposes, the dentfcaton of factors nfluencng effcency has also been an mportant exercse but the debate as to whether the sngle or two-stage method s approprate s not yet settled. Battese and Coell (1995) and Kumbakar (1994) challenge the two-stage approach by argung that the farm-specfc factors should nstead be ncorporated drectly n the frst stage estmaton of the stochastc fronter because such factors can have a drect mpact on effcency and they propose a model ncorporatng these varables. Nevertheless, the two-stage method s mostly preferred due to a round-about effect of varable on effcency (Kalrajan, 1991; Bravo-Ureta and Reger, 1991; Bravo-Ureta and Evenson, 1994; Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1997; Sharma et al., 1999). To delve deeper nto ths matter, and based on the lterature, the followng models nvestgatng the relatonshp between farm/farmer characterstcs and the predcted TE ndces were estmated:

11 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 23 Effc= f(educ, AGE, SIZE, PEOP, CLUB) (5) Where Effc s, alternatvely, the farm-level TE of dfferent croppng systems. All varables n equaton (5), wth excepton of PEOP are dummy varables and are defned n Table 4 below. TABLE 4: DESCRIPTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL VARIABLES USED FOR THE TWO-LIMIT TOBIT REGRESSION Varable Descrpton of the varable Values 1 = the farmer has four or Dummy varable representng the average EDUC more years of schoolng; educaton level of the farmer = otherwse AGE PEOP CLUB SIZE Dummy varable representng the age of the farmer Famly sze Dummy varable representng membershp to a farmer s club or assocaton Dummy varable representng land sze 1 = younger farmers (those less than 25 years of age); = otherwse Number of the people n the household ncludng the household head 1= yes; = no 1 = medum sze (whch are those of.5 and 2 hectares); = otherwse The varables ncluded n equaton (5) are those usually ncorporated n an analyss of ths type (Belbase and Grabowsk, 1985; Kalrajan and Flnn, 1985; Squres and Tabor; Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero, 1997; Nyemeck et al, 23). The models for TE n equaton (5) are estmated separately usng the two-lmt tobt model procedure, gven that the effcency ndces are bounded between and 1 (Greene, 1991; Hossan, 1988). The two-lmt tobt model s wrtten as follows: Effc * = β X + u where Effc * s the latent value of effcency scores. If we denote by Effc the observed value of effcency scores: Effc = L 1 f Effc L 1 = Effc * * f L π Effc π L = L 2 f Effc L 1 2 * 2 (6)

12 24 Journal of Economc Cooperaton where L 1 et L 2 are, respectvely, the lower and the upper lmts: that means and 1. The X are the determnants of effcency defned n (5). The maxmum lkelhood estmaton of equaton (6) yelds consstent estmators for βˆ, where βˆ s a vector of unknown parameters. The maxmum lkelhood functon s showed as follows: L β x 1 y β x L 2 β x L( β, σ y, x, L Φ (7) σ 1 1, L2 ) = Φ φ 1 y = L σ * 1 y = y σ σ y = L2 Where Φ and φ are respectvely the normal standard cumulatve and densty functon The Tobt Model Results Accordng to the results of the second step regressons, presented n Table 5, EDUC has a postve and hghly sgnfcant mpact on TE n mono croppng maze system, whle the effect on TE n both mono croppng and nter croppng groundnut/maze systems s also postve but not sgnfcant. These results ndcate that farmers wth four or more years of schoolng exhbted hgher levels of TE. These results are smlar to the fndngs of Wer (1999) and Wer and Knght (2). Wer (1999) found substantal nternal benefts of schoolng for farmer productvty of cereal crops n rural Ethopa n terms of effcency gans but found a threshold effect that mples that at least four years of schoolng are requred to lead to sgnfcant effects on farm level techncal effcency. In Cameroon, the mono croppng and nter croppng groundnut/maze systems are specally practced by women who are generally llterate as compared to men farmers who have generally more than four years of schoolng. The results show also that farmers under twenty-fve years of age have hgher levels of TE. These results are consstent wth the fndngs of Kalrajan and Flnn (1983) and Bravo-Ureta and Pnhero (1997). Accordng to Hussan (1989), older farmers are less lkely to have contacts wth advsory or extenson agents and are less wllng to adopt new practces and modern nputs. Furthermore, younger farmers are lkely to have some formal educaton, and therefore mght be more successful n gatherng nformaton and understandng new practces, whch n turn wll mprove ther TE.

13 Techncal Effcency of Maze and Peanut Farmers 25 TABLE 5: TWO-LIMIT TOBIT EQUATIONS FOR TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF CROPPING SYSTEMS IN SLASH AND BURN ZONE OF CAMEROON Croppng systems Varables Mono peanut Inter peanut-maze Mono maze Mean Parameter Mean Parameter Mean Parameter (S.D) (S.E) (S.D) (S.E) (S.D) (S.E) Intercept -.724*** -.864*** -.721*** (.138) (.122) (.121) EDUC ** (.21) (.8) (.236) (.1) (.46) (.8) AGE ** *** (.495) (.39) (.486) (.51) (.321) (.12) PEOP (2) (.17) (2) (.31) (3) (.18) CLUB *** *** *** (.381) (.31) SIZE (.69) (.61) ** p<.5, *** P<.1 (.376).615 (.344) (.25).16 (.131) (.23) (1.25) (.64).43 (.52) Communtaran socal captal varable, measured as membershp to a farmer s club or assocaton (CLUB) has a postve and statstcally sgnfcant connecton wth TE. Of all the varables consdered n the second step analyss, CLUB s the only one that has unformly the same sgn and s statstcally sgnfcant n all three effcency equatons. Ths fndng s consstent wth Glover s argument (1984) that club members farmng can be very valuable for small-scale operatons, because t facltates access to markets and ncreases ncome and agrcultural actvtes. In addton, club members producton provdes farmers wth a secure market for ther crops as well as some techncal assstance whch consttutes a source of farmer techncal effcency. 4. CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Ths study presents measures of techncal effcency for a sample of 45 farmers n the slash and burn zone n Cameroon. Maxmum lkelhood technques were used to estmate a Cobb-Douglas producton fronter, whch was used to derve farm-level techncal effcency measures. The analyss reveals that the average levels of techncal effcency equal to 78, 8 and 77% respectvely for groundnut monocrop, maze monocrop and maze/groundnut ntercrop systems. These results suggest

14 26 Journal of Economc Cooperaton that substantal gans n output and/or decreases n cost can be attaned gven the exstng technology. We would lke to pont out that despte the role that hgher effcency levels can have on output, productvty gans stemmng from technologcal nnovatons reman of crtcal mportance n agrculture. Hence, research efforts drected toward the generaton of new technology should not be neglected. In a second step analyss, the relatonshp between TE and varous attrbutes of farms and farmers was examned. The second step analyss reled on two-lmt tobt regresson technques to estmate three separate equatons, where TE was expressed as functon of fve farm/farmer characterstcs. The results show that younger, more educated farmers and membershp to farmer s club or assocaton exhbted hgher levels of TE. Ths result ponted out the mportance of socal captal on productvty gans n slash and burn zone of Cameroon. From a polcy pont of vew, t should be noted that schoolng and membershp to a farmer s club or assocaton are the varables most promsng for acton. Polcymakers should therefore foster the development of the formal farm s club or assocaton by buldng the capacty of the farmers on creaton and management sklls. It should also be ponted out that the publc sector must be nvolved n the provson of nformaton and techncal assstance to farmers as a means to mprove effcency levels, and thus household ncomes. Ths could be done va the farmer feld school methods. REFERENCES Adesna, A.A., Mblla, D., Nkamleu, G.B and Endamana, D., Econometrc Analyss of the Determnants of Adopton of Alley Farmng by Farmers n the Forest Zone of Southwest Cameroon, Agrculture Ecosystems & Envronment 2, 1581:1-11. Agner, D.J., Lovell, C.K., and Schmdt, P., Formulaton and Estmaton of Stochastc Fronter Producton Functon Models, Journal of Econometrcs, 6 (1), 1977, pp Battese, G.E., Fronter Producton Functons and Techncal Effcency: A Survey of Emprcal Applcatons n Agrcultural Economcs, Agrcultural Economcs, 7 (3), 1992,

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