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Unravelling the variability and causes of smallholder maize yield gaps in Ethiopia

Author: Banchayehu Tessema Assefa
Author: Chamberlin, J.
Author: Reidsma, P.
Author: Silva, J.V.
Author: Ittersum, M.K. van
Year: 2020
ISSN: 1876-4517 (Print)
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10883/20660
Format: PDF
Language: English
Publisher: Springer
Copyright: CIMMYT manages Intellectual Assets as International Public Goods. The user is free to download, print, store and share this work. In case you want to translate or create any other derivative work and share or distribute such translation/derivative work, please contact CIMMYT-Knowledge-Center@cgiar.org indicating the work you want to use and the kind of use you intend; CIMMYT will contact you with the suitable license for that purpose.
Type: Article
Place of Publication: New York (USA)
Pages: 83–103
Issue: 1
Volume: 10
DOI: 10.1007/s12571-019-00981-4
Description: Ethiopia has achieved the second highest maize yield in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, farmers’ maize yields are still much lower than on-farm and on-station trial yields, and only ca. 20% of the estimated water-limited potential yield. This article provides a comprehensive national level analysis of the drivers of maize yields in Ethiopia, by decomposing yield gaps into efficiency, resource and technology components, and accounting for a broad set of detailed input and crop management choices. Stochastic frontier analysis was combined with concepts of production ecology to estimate and explain technically efficient yields, the efficiency yield gap and the resource yield gap. The technology yield gap was estimated based on water-limited potential yields from the Global Yield Gap Atlas. The relative magnitudes of the efficiency, resource and technology yield gaps differed across farming systems; they ranged from 15% (1.6 t/ha) to 21% (1.9 t/ha), 12% (1.3 t/ha) to 25% (2.3 t/ha) and 54% (4.8 t/ha) to 73% (7.8 t/ha), respectively. Factors that reduce the efficiency yield gap include: income from non-farm sources, value of productive assets, education and plot distance from home. The resource yield gap can be explained by sub-optimal input use, from a yield perspective. The technology yield gap comprised the largest share of the total yield gap, partly due to limited use of fertilizer and improved seeds. We conclude that targeted but integrated policy design and implementation is required to narrow the overall maize yield gap and improve food security.
Country of Focus: ETHIOPIA
Agrovoc: ZEA MAYS
Agrovoc: PRODUCTION
Agrovoc: SMALLHOLDERS
Agrovoc: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Agrovoc: YIELD GAP
Notes: The dataset related with this article is only referential
Related Datasets: https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12571-019-00981-4/MediaObjects/12571_2019_981_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Journal: Food Security


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  • Socioeconomics
    Including topics such as farming systems, markets, impact & targeting, innovations, and GIS

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