Analysis on Technical Efficiency of Rice Farms and Its Influencing Factors in South-western of Niger

The present study focused on analyzing the technical efficiency of rice farms in southwest of Niger. The data from January to March 2015 survey of 148 ms in three districts of south-western of Niger were analyzed by using DEA-Tobit two-step method. In the first step, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied to estimate technical, pure technical and scale efficiency. In the second step, Tobit regression was used to identify factors affecting technical efficiency. The results showed that rice producers in southwest of Niger could reduce their inputs by 52% and still produce the same level of rice output. The Tobit regression showed that factors, such as farm size, experience in rice farming, membership of cooperative, main occupation and land ownership had a direct impact on technical efficiency.