Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1700 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2855 (Online) Vol.6, No.17, 2015 183 Evaluation of Technical Efficiency of Sweet Corn Production among Smallholder Farmers in Njoro district, Kenya E. Ngenoh 1 * B. K. Mutai 1 P. K. Chelang’a 2 W.Koech 1 1.Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Egerton University,P.O. Box 536 Egerton, Kenya 2.International Livestock Research Institute,P.O. Box 30709-00100 Nairobi, Kenya Abstract The National Agriculture Policy stresses the involvement of all stakeholders in decision making as one of the major strategies for eradicating poverty and increased productivity. Therefore, in recognition to the economic importance of horticulture to Kenya, technical efficiency of sweet corn production was evaluated to substantiate the paradox behind persistent reduction in productivity that impedes the development of the vibrant industry. A semi-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from smallholder producers through face- to-face interview. The census and purposive sampling methods were employed to obtain 76 respondents who were subjected to a stochastic production frontier model to estimate technical efficiency of sweet corn production. The results showed a mean efficiency score of 74% indicating that there was a 26% allowance for improvement. Land tenure with title (p≤0.05), hired labour (p≤0.05) and off-farm activities (p≤0.1) with positive effects while age (p≤0.05) and gender of the household head (p≤0.1) with negative effects on technical inefficiency. Therefore, there exists opportunity to improve efficiency in production given existing farm technologies more so if they embrace the use of family labour effectively and deterministic lawful land ownership. Besides, off-farm activities would reduce the overreliance on farming and promote higher returns by boosting on efficient resources use. Keywords: Technical, Efficiency, Farm technologies, Sweet corn, Stochastic frontier Introduction Over several decades, agriculture has been seen as a vital development tool that can be used to reduce rural poverty, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa (World Development Report, 1982; Adelman, 1984; Mellor and Johnston, 1984; World Development Report, 2008). Previous studies have shown that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as compared to GDP growth from non-agricultural based countries (World Development Report, 2008). The greatest challenge facing Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa in general is increasing per-capita food production and raising rural income. This sector accounts for about 24% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and almost 80% of Kenya’s population live in rural areas thus depend on agriculture for their livelihood and most are classified as smallholders (Kuyiah et al., 2006). The horticulture sub-sector is currently ranked second to tea in terms of foreign exchange earnings. The success of the sub-sector has seen the export of horticultural produce rising from 1,480 tonnes in 1968 to 193, 000 tonnes in 2007 fetching over US $700 million during this period (Horticultural Crop Development Authority, 2007). The major export market is the European Union countries taking 80% of the exports; with the UK, Netherlands and France being the main markets (Horticultural Crop Development Authority, 2007; Minot and Ngigi, 2004). This subsector has become a recommendable diversification strategy for producers as horticultural crops often generated higher returns per hectare than staple food crops. The main vegetable crops grown for export in Kenya include; garden beans, garden pea, sugar snap pea, mange tout, Sweet corn, baby corn and French beans. Sweet corn, (Zea mays L. Var. Saccharata), is a type of maize which belongs to the grass family, Gramineae and is known as corn. A standard sweet corn is a mutant type of corn that differs from field or dent corn by a mutation at the sugary locus and it accumulates about two times more sugar than field corn and therefore will remain sweet about two to four days after harvest if refrigerated. According to (Marton et al., 2007), there are several hundred sweet corn varieties that are currently available where selection is forwarded towards enlarging harvest in ways that will prolong the time of sugar converting into starch, in order to maintain its quality longer in time. The cobs are harvested when the kernels are pale yellow, plump and milky. Basically, it is marketed or exported as frozen vegetable since its post-harvest life is brief, respires at high rate and sugar is rapidly converted into starch. Sweet corn is a warm weather crop that grows best when temperatures range from 60 to 80° farads and the soil is well supplied with moisture. The plants grow in a variety of soil types, but growth is best in fertile, loamy, well drained soils of pH 5.8 to 6.5. Furthermore, sweet corn plants grow best when exposed to full sunlight throughout the day, therefore the shady areas should be avoided (Schultheis, 1998). The economic importance of sweet corn in the world includes its use in the manufacture of several