ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY IN COCOA PRODUCTION IN

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the economic efficiency of resource utilization in cocoa production of the cocoa farmers in Ghana to provide information for effective application and management of farm inputs on cocoa farms and policy recommendation. A random sample of 300 farmers in the Eastern, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Volta and Western regions of Ghana were selected, using the multi-stage sampling approach. Individual farmers were interviewed by using questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the survey data were performed. Regression analysis was employed to estimate the Cobb-Douglas production function from the farm data for the measurement of technical efficiency of the cocoa farmers. The estimated elasticity from the production function and prices of input and output were subsequently used to calculate the measures of allotment efficiency of resource use by the farmers. The coefficients for household size, cocoa farm size, quantity of insecticides, quantity of fungicides, and quantity of fertilizer were 0.261, 0.514, 0.273, 0.090 and 0.325, respectively. The quantity of fertilize