Summary
This study uses nationally representative survey data from Nigerian smallholder maize producers to estimate the causal impact of agricultural cooperative membership on technical efficiency, employing advanced econometric methods to account for selection bias from both observed and unobserved farmer attributes. The analysis reveals that cooperative members achieve consistently higher technical efficiency than non-members, suggesting cooperatives may help farmers improve production performance. The findings support continued policy promotion of agricultural cooperatives as a development mechanism for smallholder farmers.
Regional applicability
Whilst this study is specific to Nigeria's context, the findings on cooperative membership and technical efficiency may have relevance to United Kingdom agricultural policy discussions around farmer groups and collective action, though UK farmers operate at a different scale and institutional context. The methodology for disentangling selection effects could inform future UK evaluations of agricultural support schemes.
Key measures
Technical efficiency (TE) scores; stochastic meta-frontier estimates; propensity score matching to control for selection bias from observable and unobservable characteristics
Outcomes reported
The study measured technical efficiency (TE) levels of smallholder maize producers and compared TE between agricultural cooperative members and non-members using a stochastic production frontier model. It found that cooperative members consistently achieved higher technical efficiency than non-members.
Topic tags
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Ask about this record, its theme or its relevance to UK farming and policy. Pulse AI uses selected catalogue evidence and cites the sources it draws on.