Meta-frontier analysis of organic and conventional cocoa production in Ghana

Th is study considers the meta-frontier technique to compare the effi ciency level of organic and conventional cocoa production systems in Ghana using a cross sectional data of 390 farms. Th e results reveal that the organic systems exhibit an increasing return to scale whilst, the conventional system exhibit decreasing returns to scale. All the inputs vari- ables positively infl uence the production except the age of trees. Th e combined eff ects of operational and farm specifi c fac- tors are identifi ed to infl uence the technical effi ciency although the individual eff ects of some variables are not signifi cant. Th e mean technical effi ciency relative to the meta-frontier is estimated to be 0.59 for the organic and 0.71 for the conven- tional farms. Th e study concludes that the conventional system of cocoa production is more technically effi cient than the organic system. However, the increase in the scale of production in the organic system to take advantage of the economies of scale may enhance the effi ciency of production.