Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Farmers in Ethiopia face challenges associated with low efficiency and productivity, primarily due to limited access to improved seeds and complementary inputs. Despite empirical evidence of the vital role played by agricultural cooperatives in providing these basic inputs, there has been no empiric...

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Autores principales: Gemechu, Abera, Jaleta, Moti, Zemedu, Lemma, Beyene, Fekadu
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179267
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author Gemechu, Abera
Jaleta, Moti
Zemedu, Lemma
Beyene, Fekadu
author_browse Beyene, Fekadu
Gemechu, Abera
Jaleta, Moti
Zemedu, Lemma
author_facet Gemechu, Abera
Jaleta, Moti
Zemedu, Lemma
Beyene, Fekadu
author_sort Gemechu, Abera
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Farmers in Ethiopia face challenges associated with low efficiency and productivity, primarily due to limited access to improved seeds and complementary inputs. Despite empirical evidence of the vital role played by agricultural cooperatives in providing these basic inputs, there has been no empirical study examining the impact of membership in seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) on agricultural development. This study aimed to assess the impact of membership in SPC on the technical efficiency (TE) of farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Using data from 425 selected tef farmers, the paper employed propensity score matching to match SPC members with non-members and applied a selectivity-corrected stochastic production frontier model to address unobserved biases. In addition, the meta-frontier approach was used to compare TE scores between the two groups of farmers. Results reveal that SPC members achieved a TE of 72 % of their potential output, whereas non-members achieved only 59 %. SPC members achieved meta technical efficiency (MTE) of 67 %, while non-members obtained MTE of 49 %. This indicates that non-members face tef production challenges due to limited access to improved technologies. In conclusion, SPC membership significantly enhances the TE of members compared to non-members indicating that improving TE could greatly boost productivity in the tef sector. The findings of the study suggest that the government of Ethiopia should enhance the skills of SPC members by providing training and promoting knowledge sharing among farmers to improve seed access. Similarly, private seed producers should be strengthened to meet the growing demand for improved seeds.
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spelling CGSpace1792672025-12-24T02:05:29Z Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia Gemechu, Abera Jaleta, Moti Zemedu, Lemma Beyene, Fekadu impact cooperatives seed production efficiency stochastic models teff Farmers in Ethiopia face challenges associated with low efficiency and productivity, primarily due to limited access to improved seeds and complementary inputs. Despite empirical evidence of the vital role played by agricultural cooperatives in providing these basic inputs, there has been no empirical study examining the impact of membership in seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) on agricultural development. This study aimed to assess the impact of membership in SPC on the technical efficiency (TE) of farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Using data from 425 selected tef farmers, the paper employed propensity score matching to match SPC members with non-members and applied a selectivity-corrected stochastic production frontier model to address unobserved biases. In addition, the meta-frontier approach was used to compare TE scores between the two groups of farmers. Results reveal that SPC members achieved a TE of 72 % of their potential output, whereas non-members achieved only 59 %. SPC members achieved meta technical efficiency (MTE) of 67 %, while non-members obtained MTE of 49 %. This indicates that non-members face tef production challenges due to limited access to improved technologies. In conclusion, SPC membership significantly enhances the TE of members compared to non-members indicating that improving TE could greatly boost productivity in the tef sector. The findings of the study suggest that the government of Ethiopia should enhance the skills of SPC members by providing training and promoting knowledge sharing among farmers to improve seed access. Similarly, private seed producers should be strengthened to meet the growing demand for improved seeds. 2025-08 2025-12-23T20:45:46Z 2025-12-23T20:45:46Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179267 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Gemechu, A., Jaleta, M., Zemedu, L., & Beyene, F. (2025). Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: Evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 22, 101997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2025.101997
spellingShingle impact
cooperatives
seed production
efficiency
stochastic models
teff
Gemechu, Abera
Jaleta, Moti
Zemedu, Lemma
Beyene, Fekadu
Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_full Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_fullStr Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_short Impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency: evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia
title_sort impact of seed producer cooperatives membership on technical efficiency evidence from tef farmers in the central highlands of ethiopia
topic impact
cooperatives
seed production
efficiency
stochastic models
teff
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179267
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AT zemedulemma impactofseedproducercooperativesmembershipontechnicalefficiencyevidencefromteffarmersinthecentralhighlandsofethiopia
AT beyenefekadu impactofseedproducercooperativesmembershipontechnicalefficiencyevidencefromteffarmersinthecentralhighlandsofethiopia