Technical efficiency of onion production: The case of smallholder farmers in Dallo Mena district, Bale zone, Oromia national regional state, Ethiopia

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“…Accordingly, we hypothesized that large family members, male headed households, educated farmers, obtaining access to irrigation, modern inputs, credit, extension service, and being a member of farm cooperative contribute in the operation of farm activities of onion. Farmers who have an oxen enables them to manage their farm lands, and experienced farmers have better administrative abilities that they can exert to their onion production [11,14,15,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and [29]. The socioeconomic variables examined in this study include gender, age, education, labor force, off-farm income, and the number of oxen owned.…”

“…This choice was made due to its exceptional flexibility and suitability in analyzing farm-level data when compared to other functional forms. While previous studies [12,14,15,17,19] and [21]…”

“…The Amhara Region contributes around 50% of the national onion production, with a productivity rate of 12.3 tons per hectare. The Central Gondar, East Gojjam, North Wollo, South Wollo, and South Gondar Zones within the Amhara Region are major onion production areas [14,15].…”

“…Several studies conducted at global, national, and regional levels have investigated factors influencing onion production, productivity, and technical efficiency. These studies include [11,14,15,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and [29]. The studies mentioned above have found that factors such as gender, age, education level, household size, onion purchasing quantity, production experience, land area allocated to onion cultivation, extension services, storage facilities, coordination among producers, access to fertilizers and quality seeds, irrigation services, diseases and pests, plant spacing, soil fertility management practices, and access to credit significantly influence onion production.…”

“…Firstly, while previous studies (e.g. [11,14,15,22,28] and [19,24]), have focused on technical efficiency, economic feasibility, profitability, onion marketing, and the influence of seedling age and variety on onion growth, there is a need for additional research considering the constraints of onion production in Ethiopia, particularly in the Amhara region. Secondly, existing studies, such as [29], have only used descriptive statistics to examine the rise and fall of onion production in Northwest Ethiopia, making it difficult to identify the significant factors influencing onion production.…”