TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF CORN PRODUCTION IN TAMPAKAN, SOUTH COTABATO

The study was conducted in Tampakan, South Cotabato from July to September 2021 to determine the level of technical efficiency of corn farmers. Specifically, the study aimed to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of corn farmers, analyze the profitability of Corn Production, determine the farm management practices, determine the different programs offered by the Department of Agriculture toward Corn Farmers and determine the factors significantly affecting the level of technical efficiency of corn production in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Costs Function.

The result shows that the majority of the farmers are male with an age range of 30-60 and most of them were high school level and belong to the low-income class. The majority also of the corn farmers had the same farm management practices in which traditional methods were being used. Some use a tractor with implements and some use a plow. Direct seeding was used by farmers and off-baring and hilling up were being practiced. The majority were pesticide and herbicide users. In addition, manual harvesting was used by the majority. Also, most of them had enough farming experience however, only a few of them were assisted by an Agriculturist technician and the majority of them did not attend any seminars or training. It could be noted that corn production is profitable with an ROI of 321.89 % for hybrid variety and 173.69% in Open pollinated Variety (OPV).

Lastly, the study revealed that the cost of seeds, cost of fertilizer, cost of pesticides, and labor cost significantly affected Technical Efficiency. The level of efficiency is 77% which shows 77% variability of sales is attributed to the four variables.
Hence,corn production is technically efficient.