Resource-use-efficiency in Cocoa Industry: the Experience of Smallholder Cocoa Farmers in Ghana

Growth in the Ghanaian cocoa sector has been achieved through expansion in area cultivated rather than improvement in yield. Average yield in Ghana's cocoa industry are less than 500kg/ha while on-station trials is above 2000kg/ha suggesting an avenue for increasing productivity through efficient and effective mobilization of factors of production. That is, for cocoa to continue play it's key role, producers ought to optimize their resource use in the industry. This book provides an empirical insight into production efficiency of smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana using farm level data. The productivity and resource-use-efficiency were estimated through stochastic production frontier. The study revealed that cocoa farms in Ghana exhibited increasing returns-to-scale indicating reducing average cost of production. The mean technical efficiency level was 49%. The analysis is necessary in the global quest to boost production through efficient use of resources, and very useful for technocrats in the industry, production economists and anyone else who wants to enter into the industry.