Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Sorghum Production in Lower Eastern Kenya: A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach.

Abstract

There has been an increase in food insecurity problem in ASALs of Kenya and this has necessitated a renewed interest in promoting drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum, among smallholder farmers in these regions. Promotion of such crops as sorghum has been emphasized in these regions but the yields are low. Using a field survey data of randomly selected sample of 143 smallholder farmers in Machakos and Makindu districts in Kenya this paper used DEA approach to estimate their technical efficiency scores. Results showed that the average technical efficiency was low, 41%. Innovative arrangements should be enhanced to increase farmers’ capacity to efficiently use the available resources in sorghum production.