EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF SMALL SCALE WOOL PRODUCTION IN THE FORMER TRANSKEI, SOUTH AFRICA

Specialising in wool production could be a good opportunity for farmers in the former Transkei to upgrade to fully commercial and economic viable enterprises. This paper investigates the efficiency of the current practices of wool producers in three villages. Two of those villages are beneficiaries of the LandCare project of the National Department of Agriculture, and receive help on technical matters and marketing. The analysis shows that in the two villages beneficiary of the Land Care project the technical, allocative and economic efficiency of the wool production is higher than in the third village. In the latter, the technical efficiency of some of the farms is still good, but the difference is made in the marketing of the wool.