Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, May 2018

Urban population has been n an increasing rate, as well as urbanization of poverty. Urbanization of poverty means that the proportion of poor the lives in the urban areas is increasing. Poverty and hunger are interlinked because those who are income poor cannot afford to purchase the daily calorie intake. UCG as a type of urban agriculture can be a possible solution in addressing the social problems rampant in the urban areas today. The objectives of the study aimed to assess the technical efficiency of the UCG adopters in Mati City, Davao Oriental. This study employed a two-stage analysis wherein the first stage of analysis underwent Data Envelopment Analysis to determine the technical efficiency scores and Tobit Regression Analysis to determine the internal factors that can affect the in level of technical efficiency of the adopters. The results showed that the technical efficiency level of the adopters is at 95 percent and their scale efficiency is at 84.2 percent. These implied that the adopters still can reduce their input utilization and increase their production adopters still can reduce their input utilization and increase their production because they have not maximized the production capacity and potential of their garden. The significant variables that can affect the technical efficiency of the adopters are age, personal income, and family size. Age has a negative effect wherein as the age of the adaptor increases, their technical efficiency decreases meaning the age and productivity are inversely proportional. Personal income and household size has a positive effect on the technical efficiency of the adopters. As the personal income increases, the adopter?s technical efficiency increases also because there would be alleviation in the purchasing of inputs for the garden. Household size increases the technical efficiency of the adopters by supplying labor from the household. Recommendation of this study include creation of youth-oriented programs, market channel for the produce of the adopters and creation of nearby input market for the adopters.