Measuring and Explaining Technical Efficiency of Dairy Farms: A Case Study of Smallholder Farms in East Africa

Replaced with revised version of paper 11/18/10.Dairy farms, efficiency scores, Data Envelopment Analysis, fractional regression, returns to scale, Livestock Production/Industries,

Technical efficiency of water use and its determinants, study at smallscale irrigation schemes in North-West Province, South Africa

This paper analyses the efficiency with which water is used in small-scale irrigation schemes in North-West Province in South Africa and studies its determinants. In the study area, small-scale irrigation schemes play an important role in rural development, but the increasing pressure on water resources and the approaching introduction of water charges raise the concern for more efficient water use. With the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques used to compute farm-level technical efficiency measures and sub-vector efficiencies for water use, it was shown that under Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) and Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) specification, substantial technical inefficiencies, of 49% and 16% respectively, exist among farmers. The sub-vector efficiencies for water proved to be even lower, indicating that if farmers became more efficient using the technology currently available, it would be possible to reallocate a fraction of the irrigation water to other water demands without threatening the role of small-scale irrigation. In a second step, Tobit regression techniques were used to examine the relationship between sub-vector efficiency for water and various farm/farmers characteristics. Farm size, landownership, fragmentation, the type of irrigation scheme, crop choice and the irrigation methods applied showed a significant impact on the sub-vector efficiency for water. Such information is valuable for extension services and policy makers since it can help to guide policies towards increased efficiency

Quota Trading and Profitability: Theoretical Models and Applications to Danish Fisheries

Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we provide a framework to analyze the potential gains from quota trading. We compare the industry profit and structure before and after a free trade reallocation of production quotas. The effects of tradable production quotas depend on several technological and behavioral characteristics, including the ability to learn best practice (catch-up) and the ability to change the input and output composition (mix). To illustrate the usefulness of our approach, we analyze a dataset from the Danish fishery. We study the industry profit and structure under each of four sets of technological and behavioral characteristics.Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQ), reallocation, technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, fishery, Agribusiness, C61, L51, Q22, Q28,

Agricultural Productivity Growth, Efficiency Change and Technical Progress in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper analyzes total factor productivity growth in agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1961 and 2007 employing the Malmquist Index, a non-parametric methodology that uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. The results show that among developing regions, Latin America and the Caribbean shows the highest agricultural productivity growth. The highest growth within the region has occurred in the last two decades, especially due to improvements in efficiency and the introduction of new technologies. Within the region, land-abundant countries consistently outperform land-constrained countries. Within agriculture, crops and non-ruminant sectors have displayed the strongest growth between 1961 and 2001, and ruminant production performed the worst. Additional analysis of the cases of Brazil and Cuba illustrates potential effects of policies and external shocks on agricultural productivity; policies that do not discriminate against agricultural sectors and that remove price and production distortions may help improve productivity growth.Total factor productivity, Agriculture, Crops, Livestock, Latin America and the Caribbean, Malmquist Index

Reconciling energy and carbon emission performance for sustainability

Enerji ve çevresel verimlilik kavramları üretim süreci esnasında çok az ya da hiç kirlilik açığa çıkmamasını sağlayarak verimliliği yeniden tanımlar ve sürdürülebilir bir geleceğe erişimi sağlar. Konuyla ilgili literatür ülkelerin çevresel verimlilik ve performans ölçümlerinin sağlanması konusunda yeterli değildir. Bu çalışma, elektrik enerjisi üretiminde enerji ve CO2 salımı performansını üretim verimliliği açısından modeller. Bu çalışmada radyal olmayan mesafe fonksiyonu kullanılmış; enerji, çevre ve enerji-çevre performans indisleri 112 ülke için ve 1988-2011 periyotlarını kapsayacak şekilde oluşturulmuştur. Model IEA 2013 datasını kullanarak GAMS 23.5 programında çözülmüştür. Ülkeler, ilk etapta birleşik ısı ve güç üretim (CHP) teknolojisini kullanımlarına göre gruplanmış ve en iyi üretim sınır eğrisi oluşturulmuştur. İkinci grup ise G20 ülkelerinden oluşmakta olup, bu gruplama dünyadaki 20 majör ülkenin enerji, çevre ve enerji-çevre performanslarının karşılaştırılmasını sağlamaktadır. Son grup ise Türkiye'nin de içinde bulunduğu Birleşmiş Milletler İklim Değişikliği Çerçeve Sözleşmesi (UNFCCC) Ek I ülkelerinden oluşmaktadır. Data setteki en son yıl olan 2011 yılı için tüm performans indislerinde en iyi performans gösteren ülkeler şunlardır: CHP teknolojisini kullanan ülkeler arasında İsviçre ve İsveç; CHP teknolojisini kullanmayan ülkeler arasında Brezilya; G20 ülkeleri arasında Brezilya ve İngiltere; Ek I ülkeleri arasında ise Beyaz Rusya ve Slovak Cumhuriyeti. Literatürle uyumlu olarak Türkiye, kirliliğe sebep olan ana ülkelere göre daha iyi enerji ve çevresel performans sergilemiş olup, Ek I örneklem ülkeleri arasında ise medyanda yer almaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Enerji Verimliliği, Çevresel Verimlilik, CO2 Salım Performansı, Elektrik Üretimi, Yönsel Mesafe Fonksiyonu, Veri Zarflama AnaliziThe concepts of energy and environmental efficiency, with creating less or no pollution in production processes, help to redefine efficiency in general and serve to attain a sustainable future. The relevant literature is underprovided in analyzing environmental efficiency and thus performance measures for countries over time. This study models energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation from the production efficiency point of view. It uses a non-radial directional distance function and constructs energy, environmental and energy-environmental performance indices for 112 countries over the period of 1988-2011. The models are run in GAMS 23.5 with IEA data 2013. The countries are grouped firstly with respect to their use of combined heat and power (CHP) technology to construct best practice frontier. The second group is G20 countries, which allows investigation of the tradeoffs amongst energy and environmental performances of top 20 countries in the world. The last group is UNFCCC Annex I countries, consisting of Turkey. The study shows that the majority of the countries still have room for improvement for energy and the environment. For the most current year in the dataset, 2011, for all the indices, the following countries are the best performers; Switzerland and Sweden in the group of countries with CHP technology, Brazil for the non-CHP countries, Brazil and United Kingdom among G20 countries, and Belarus and Slovak Republic in Annex I. Consistent with the literature, Turkey has better energy and environmental performance compared to the major polluters as it performs around the medians of sample countries in UNFCCC Annex I. Keywords: Energy efficiency, Environmental efficiency, CO2 emission performance, Electricity Generation, Directional distance function, Data envelopment analysis

A Comparative Efficiency Analysis of Wheat Farms using Parametric and Nonparametric Methods

Efficiency Analysis, Deterministic Nonparametric Method, Parametric, Stochastic Frontier., Production Economics, Q12,

Technical Change Performance and Water Use Efficiency in the Irrigated Areas: Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

In order to cope with the water scarcity, Tunisia has to manage efficiently the water demand of the economic and social sectors mainly that of the agricultural irrigated activities. Within this context, this investigation aims to analyze the technical efficiency, the water use efficiency and the dynamic of the productivity of the irrigated areas in the Sidi Bouzid region. Farm surveys have been carried out during 2003 and 2007 cropping years and technology performance has been assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Malmquist index has been also computed in order to characterize the productivity change. Empirical findings showed that the technical efficiency of the farms has increased by 17% during this period leading to an improvement of the water use efficiency up to 22%. Both, the technical efficiency change as well as the technical change reveal a positive impact on the productivity change. However, in 2007, the water use efficiency was only 78%. Therefore, farmers have to improve further their irrigated practices in order to save more water.Irrigated Area, Technical Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, Productivity Change, Data Envelopment Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Dynamic Efficiency Analysis using a Directional Distance Function

Input-based dynamic efficiency measures are derived from an adjustment-cost directional distance function approach. A dynamic input directional distance function can be generated from an adjustment-cost technology where the dynamics are explicitly incorporated in the form of the properties of the input requirement sets with respect to the quasi-fixed factors. The properties of the dynamic input directional distance function are inherited from the properties of the technology. The efficiency measures are then applied to a panel data set of Dutch horticulture firms over the period 1991-1995.Productivity Analysis,