Increasing poultry product consumption trends have attracted researchers and development practitioners to look for interventions that transform the low-input low-output-based village chicken production to a high yielding production system. However, due to the intricate nature of the production system, there is a dearth of evidence that helps design comprehensive interventions at the smallholder level. Using national-level representative data collected from 3555 village chicken producers in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, this study examines the technical efficiency of village chicken production and investigates the main factors that explain the level of inefficiency. We applied a stochastic frontier analysis to simultaneously quantify the level of technical efficiency and identify factors associated with heterogeneity in inefficiency. We found that the level of technical efficiency is extremely low in the three countries, suggesting enormous opportunities to enhance productivity using available resources. The heterogeneity in technical efficiency is strongly associated with producers’ experience in breed improvements and flock management, limited technical knowledge and skills, limited access to institutions and markets, smaller flock size, gender disparities, and household livelihood orientation. We argue the need to adopt an integrated approach to enhance village producers’ productivity and transform the traditional subsistence-based production system into a commercially oriented semi-intensive production system.

中文翻译：

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非洲传统乡村养鸡生产的技术效率：可持续转型和改善民生的切入点

不断增长的家禽产品消费趋势吸引了研究人员和开发从业者寻找干预措施，将低投入低产出的乡村养鸡生产转变为高产生产系统。然而，由于生产系统的复杂性，缺乏有助于在小农层面设计综合干预措施的证据。本研究使用从埃塞俄比亚、尼日利亚和坦桑尼亚 3555 家乡村养鸡生产商收集的国家级代表性数据，检验了乡村养鸡生产的技术效率，并调查了解释低效率水平的主要因素。我们应用随机前沿分析来同时量化技术效率水平并识别与低效率异质性相关的因素。我们发现这三个国家的技术效率水平极低，这表明利用可用资源提高生产力的巨大机会。技术效率的异质性与生产者在品种改良和鸡群管理方面的经验、技术知识和技能有限、进入机构和市场的机会有限、鸡群规模较小、性别差异和家庭生计方向密切相关。我们认为需要采用综合方法来提高乡村生产者的生产力，并将传统的以生存为基础的生产系统转变为以商业为导向的半集约化生产系统。技术效率的异质性与生产者在品种改良和鸡群管理方面的经验、技术知识和技能有限、进入机构和市场的机会有限、鸡群规模较小、性别差异和家庭生计方向密切相关。我们认为需要采用综合方法来提高乡村生产者的生产力，并将传统的以生存为基础的生产系统转变为以商业为导向的半集约化生产系统。技术效率的异质性与生产者在品种改良和鸡群管理方面的经验、技术知识和技能有限、进入机构和市场的机会有限、鸡群规模较小、性别差异和家庭生计方向密切相关。我们认为需要采用综合方法来提高乡村生产者的生产力，并将传统的以生存为基础的生产系统转变为以商业为导向的半集约化生产系统。