TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF RESETTLEMENT FARMERS OF ZIMBABWE

This paper examines the technical efficiency of the resettlement sector of the agricultural system in Zimbabwe. The land reform programme aims to redistribute land from large-scale commercial farmers to the small-scale peasantry sector so as to reduce rural poverty. Since such an agrarian reform could result in higher output, higher labour absorption, and a more equitable distribution of income, it is important to assess the level of efficiency of the beneficiaries of this programme. The stochastic frontier function model of the Cobb-Douglas type was used to determine the technical efficiency of a group of 44 cotton farmers from Mutanda resettlement scheme of Manicaland province. Technical inefficiency effects are estimated and are assumed to be a function of other observable variables related to the farming operations. The results reveal some technical efficiency levels of the sample farmers that are varied widely, ranging from 22 per cent to 99 percent, with a mean value of about 71%. The technical inefficiency effects are found to be significant at the 25 per cent level. Technical inefficiency of cotton production decreased with increased family size and age of the head of household, but increased with farm size and education level of head of household.