Technical Efficiency of Artisanal Fishing Households in Malawi

This study assesses the technical efficiency of artisanal fishing households in Malawi using the stochastic production frontier model, particularly, the Cobb-Douglas model. The specific objectives of the study were two-fold: to measure the productivity of the artisanal fishers in Malawi and to find the determinants of their technical efficiency. The study used data obtained from the Malawi’s Fifth Integrated Household Survey (IHS-5), and results indicate that artisanal fishers are highly productive as the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function exhibited increasing returns to scale. The study also found that the artisanal fishers are technically efficient as their mean technical efficiency score is about 99 percent, implying that on average, a typical artisanal fisher operates only 1 percent below the maximum potential output. Furthermore, the study findings indicate that amount of money a household pays as rent for a fishing gear, the number of fishers hired, and the number of fishing gears operated by a household are positive determinants of technical efficiency among artisanal fishers; whereas the payment to hired fishers on credit is a negative determinant of technical efficiency among the artisanal fishing households in Malawi. Hence, two-fold policy implications emanate from the study as follows: Firstly, in order to promote technical efficiency of the artisanal fishing households in Malawi, policymakers need to intensify efforts aimed at encouraging spawning of fish by, strictly, prohibiting fishing in the fish spawning months. Secondly, policymakers need to encourage the artisanal fishers to subsidize the productive inputs in the artisanal fisheries sub-sector such as fishing gears and boats, and improve fishers access to credit.