Technical Efficiency of Bell Pepper (Capsicum fruitecence L.) Growing Farms- An Opportunity to Stabilize Agriculture Economy of Oman

Vegetables generally have significant importance with respect to their food value in terms of nutrition as they contain both essential vitamins and minerals. Bell pepper (Capsicum frutescence L.) is an economically important vegetable crop with the potential to increase farmers' incomes in open fields and greenhouses in Oman. Bell pepper is popular as Capsicum among customers and farmers in Arabian Peninsula countries, including Oman, with fairly moderate retail prices compared to other vegetables. Hence, a survey study investigated the technical efficiency of Capsicum-growing farms in the Sultanate of Oman. The research investigated the technical efficiency of Capsicum-growing farms of different governorates of Oman. A sample of 52 Capsicum-growing farms was selected using the multistage sampling method; the interview schedules with the farmers were conducted for data collection from January 2016 to December 2017. The data collected were subjected to the maximum likelihood method and the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production model. The output of Frontier 4.1 was found to be a good fit after performing various software econometrics. Our study revealed that the mean technical efficiency for Bell pepper-growing farms in Oman was estimated to be 87%, ranging from 50% to 99%. This indicated a considerable scope of increasing capsicum yield by 13% with altering levels of inputs employed by the farmers. Further, it was observed that among the inefficiency factors, farmers' age and experience contributed significantly to the technical efficiency of the farms. Bell pepper-growing farms had enormous scope to improve their efficiency and increase productivity by following regular extension programs involving the farmers.