Abstract
This study was carried out to identify and compare the efficiency levels of maize growers using surface water irrigation (SWI) and groundwater irrigation (GWI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The variance inflation factor and Koenker Bassett test were used to check multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity that mostly occur in the primary data. The empirical findings obtained from the stochastic frontier analysis show that irrigation plays a significant role in the maize yield in both the SWI and GWI groups. The results revealed that irrigation was the most effective input used by the growers and could significantly increase the production of maize for SWI and GWI by 26 and 11%, respectively. The projected mean efficiency of the study implies that the SWI and GWI groups can still increase their efficiency by 11.1 and 19.3% with a given amount of inputs. The various inefficiency factors used in the study significantly contribute to the efficiency level of maize growers. It is also observed that farmers with large landholdings are more willing to pay for surface water irrigation, followed by farmers who are in touch with extension agents. Based on these findings, the study also recommends some policies for increasing maize production.