Assessment of allocative efficiency of smallholder tea farmers in south-western Uganda

Tea ranks third after coffee and fish in terms of export value Uganda’s crop sector. Smallholder productivity efficiency Uganda remains a paradox, especially perennial crops, with past research presenting mixed results on allocative efficiency. The objective this study was to determine its influencing factors among smallholder tea farmers western-Uganda. A cross-sectional survey dataset collected from random sample 170 Kabale Kanungu districts south-western Uganda. employed Stochastic Frontier Approach the Value Marginal Product determining input elasticities levels respectively. Results showed that average scorers for land, fertiliser, labour herbicides were 11.17, 1.68, 3.08 4.43, respectively; indicating under-utilisation inputs. Ordinary Least Squares estimates indicated score fertiliser positively related farm size, herbicide type extension visits. influenced by access type. Similarly, land while size. indicate increasing scale production region is likely improve profitability since scores greater than unity.