Exploring the drivers of productivity and technical efficiency in rice production in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme of Kenya
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Date
2025-10
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Rice has been classified as the third most vital food crop in Kenya after Maize and wheat. In the country, over 80 per cent of rice consumed is imported from other countries like Egypt, Tanzania, Thailand, among others at a cost of over Ksh.30 billion per year. Annual rice production and consumption in the country between 1990 and 2020 averaged 47 and 383 thousand tons per year, respectively. This implies an average shortage of 336 thousand tons, which was imported. In an attempt to increase rice production to cope up with increasing demand in the country, The Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry developed the National Rice Development Strategy in 2008 to increase production and reduce deficit from 227 thousand tons in 2008 to 175 thousand tons by 2020. Introduction of this strategy would lead the country into a path of self-sustenance on food and drastically reduce the food imports. This was not successful. Instead, the deficit continued to increase and hit 650 thousand tons in 2020. There is therefore a need to understand the constraints facing rice production levels in the country. The purpose of the study was: to determine the factors that affect rice production; to measure technical efficiency of rice farmers in Mwea Tebere Irrigation Scheme and to establish the determinants of rice technical efficiencies in the scheme. Data was collected from a sample of 313 farmers in five rice growing regions of Mwea Tebere Irrigation Scheme through structured questionnaire. The study used multiple regression to measure the factors that affect rice production, a stochastic frontier analysis to measure the level technical efficiency and a Tobit model to measure the determinants of technical efficiency in Mwea Irrigation Scheme. From the findings, rice yield is determined by the amount of labour used, amount of fertilizer applied, machine use, water availability and total seeds planted. Technical Efficiency levels stood at 80 percent with a median of 81 percent. These are a bit low compared to other studies in the other regions. The study found that the main determinant of technical efficiency in Mwea Irrigation Scheme was the education of the farmer. Other determinants were gender, total land size, water availability and extension services. More technically efficient farmers were also found to use more fertilizer and were more experienced compared to the less efficient ones. Based on these findings, this study makes several recommendations. These include advising farmers to invest in and adopt more efficient and labour cost saving technologies like the use of equipment and machines, the board to liaise with the government to provide various subsidies to the farmers, manufacture of cheap and quality fertilizers in the country, manufacture cheaper rice farming machines locally, incorporate public private partnerships in water management systems, introduce fast growing and quality varieties that mature in shorter periods (drought resistant seeds) and improve farmers skills through seminars, shows, exhibitions and other outlets.
Description
A thesis submitted to the school of business, economics and tourism in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of doctor of philosophy in economics of Kenyatta University, October, 2024
Professor Martin Etyang
Dr. Dianah Ngui Muchai