Technical efficiency of production in agricultural research.

We define and model research production at Embrapa, the major Brazilian institution responsible for applied agricultural research. The main theoretical framework used is Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA. The economic interpretation of these models is explored to assess scale, congestion and cost efficiencies. EfficienCy results are used to test for differences among types of research units and for the scale of operation. A further analysis of agricultural research in Brazil is carried out with the inclusion of three research centers in Argentina. Finally, DEA estimates are compared with the fit of a stochastic frontier.Na publicação: Eliseu Alves

The association of agricultural information services and technical efficiency among maize producers in Kakamega, western Kenya

Maize is the staple food for most Kenyan households, and grown in almost all the farming systems. Due to diminishing farm sizes in Kakamega District, crop productivity and the efficiency of farming systems are of great concern. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the links between efficiency in maize production and access to soil-related agricultural information services. Using cluster sampling, a total of 154 farmers in Kakamega District were interviewed. A 2–step estimation technique (Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Tobit model) were used to evaluate the technical efficiencies among the farmers and the factors explaining the estimated efficiency scores. Data was disaggregated into farmers with and those without access to soil-related agricultural information services. The results shows that farmers with access to soil-related agricultural information services were more technically efficient (average technical efficiency of 90%) in maize production compared to those without access to information (technical efficiency at 70%). Given the significant role that access to soil-related agricultural information services play on technical efficiency in maize production in the study area, the paper recommends improvements in farmers access to this important resources through: (i) the strengthening of the formal and informal agricultural extension services, (ii) a stronger linkage among agricultural research, agricultural extension, and farm level activities; and (iii) policy support for increased distribution of soil management inputs.Maize, Soil information, Technical efficiency, Tobit analysis, DEA, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Technical efficiency of production in agricultural research: a case study.

We define and model research production at Embrapa, the major Brazilian institution responsible for applied agricultural research in the country. The main theoretical framework we use is data envelopment analysis. We explore the ecoomic interpretation of these models to assess cost and technical efficiencies for the production of agricultural research in Brazil. Efficiency results are then compared with alternative measures defined via a stochastic frontier

COMPARISON OF AGRICULTURAL FARM EFFICIENCY IN SLOVAK REGIONS BEFORE AND AFTER EU ACCESSION

This paper presents results of stochastic parametric approach used in estimation of farm technical efficiency. The estimation of output oriented technical efficiency was based on Stochastic Frontier analysis with Cobb-Douglas production function. Model specification for empirical application were employed Battese and Coelli 1995 model specification, where technical inefficiency effects are explicitly expressed as a function of a vector of firm-specific variables and random error and integrated in the stochastic frontier model. Model also included dummy variable which expressed production conditions in which Slovak farms are operating. We divided farms into two groups of production conditions: productive regions (PR) and less favorable area (LFA) regions. Data set included 79 Slovak farms operating in different regions in 2003-2005 time periods. Following input variables are included in the model: capital, material, labour and agricultural land according to LPIS system. Total product was used as output variable. Our analyses show that farms operated in 2004 achieved significantly highest level of technical efficiency in comparison with year 2003 in both groups of production condition, due to good weather condition in this year and due to increasing subsidy system. From the achieved results we can conclude that the significant statistical differences in average technical efficiency, was detected only in year 2005 between the farms of mentioned production conditions. Higher level of variability, in technical efficiency was detected in farms operating in productive regions compared to technical efficiency of farms in LFA regions.less favorable area (LFA), subsidy, stochastic production frontier, panel data, output – oriented technical efficiency, Cobb-Douglas production function, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The vanishing farms ? the impact of international migration on Albanian family farming

This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with the allocation of both labor and non-labor inputs in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm technical efficiency or agricultural income. Whether the rapid demographic changes in rural areas triggered by massive migration, possiblycombined with propitious land and rural development policies, will ultimately produce the conditions for more viable, high-return agriculture attracting larger investments remains to be seen.Population Policies,Access to Finance,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Theory&Research

Measuring Irrigation Water Efficiency with a Stochastic Production Frontier: An Application for Citrus Producing Farms in Tunisia

The objective of this paper is to propose an alternative measure of irrigation water efficiency based on the concept of input- specific technical efficiency, which contracts with measures previously used in the literature. The proposed methodology is applied to a randomly selected sample of 144 citrus growing farms located in Nabeul (Tunisia). A stochastic production frontier approach, based on Battese and Coelli’s (1995) inefficiency effect model, is used to obtain farm-specific estimates of technical and irrigation water efficiency. In addition, a second-stage regression approach is used to identify the factors influencing irrigation water efficiency differentials across citrus growing farms. Results indicate that technical efficiency ranges from a minimum of 12.9% to a maximum of 90.7% with an average estimate of 67.7%. This suggests that citrus producers may increase their production by as much as 32.3% through more efficient use of production inputs. Further, mean irrigation water efficiency is found to be 53%, which is much lower than technical efficiency and also exhibits greater variability ranging from 1.6% to 98.87%. The estimated mean irrigation water efficiency implies that the observed quantity of marketable citrus could have been maintained by using the observed values of other inputs while using 47.0% less of irrigation water. Moreover, the estimated mean irrigation water technical cost efficiency is found to be 70.81% indicating a potential decrease of 29.19% in total cost by adjusting irrigation water to its efficient level. In addition, the vast majority of farms have achieved irrigation water technical cost efficiency greater than 90% (71% of farms). Finally, the analysis of the sources of efficiency differentials among farmers showed that farmer’s age, farm’s size, education level, agricultural training, the share of productive trees and the water disposable perception tend to affect positively the degree of both technical and irrigation water efficiency.Citrus, Efficiency, Tunisia, Water, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Empirical Analysis of Agricultural Productivity: Growth in Benin and Mainly Factors which Influence Growth

This study examined changes in agricultural productivity at Benin in the context of diverse institutional arrangements using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).A time series data which consists of information on agricultural production and means of production were obtained from World Research Institute database, INSAE and rainfall data from AMMA database. The information was for a 43-year period (1961-2003); DEA method was used to measure Malquist index of total factor productivity to evaluate technical change efficiency and technological efficiency change across the country’s 12 provinces. A decomposition of TFP measures revealed whether the performance of factors productivity is due to technological change or technical efficiency change over the reference period. The study further examined the effect of land quality, agriculture labor, and selected governance indicators such as government effectiveness and openness on productivity growth. All the variables included in the model are significant effect on the TPF and the country agriculture growth. They equally performed well in terms of expected relationship with TFP except land quality index which unexpectedly had an inverse relationship with TFP.Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency, Productivity, Benin, Agribusiness, N57, C01, C23,

Uncovering Productivity Growth in the Disaggregate: Indonesia's Dueling Agricultural Sub-Sectors

The success of seed-fertilizer technologies and government subsidies in attaining nearly self-sufficient rice production in the mid-1980s encouraged the Indonesian government soon afterward to shift resources away from food crops and toward export-oriented crops. These shifts were reinforced by trade liberalization and a sharp devaluation of the rupiah after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which exerted Indonesia’s comparative advantage in tropical perennial products. In the present paper, we ask whether such events have altered Indonesia’s agricultural growth strategy from a food-crop to an export-crop one. With an innovative multi-output stochastic distance frontier model and provincial production and policy-related data from 1985 to 2005, we estimate technology growth by agricultural subsector and efficiency improvement by political jurisdiction. The perennial-crop sector is found to have achieved the highest technology growth rate, followed by the livestock and annual-crop sectors. We find overall productivity growth to have been moderate, and suggest that little of it can be attributed to Indonesia’s public research efforts.agricultural research, Indonesia, Shephard distance function, stochastic frontier, technical change, technical efficiency, International Development, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Efisiensi Teknis Usaha Tani Padi Organik Lahan Sawah Tadah Hujan Di Kabupaten Tanggamus Provinsi Lampung

Research on technical efficiency of organic rice farming was conducted in Tampang Tua Vallage, Pematang Sawa District,Tanggamus Regency, Lampung Province. by using the respondents were 60 people taken by the census of the entire organic rice farmers. The aim of this research to analyze technical efficiency, factors influencing technical efficiency, and source of technical inefficiency of rainfed farm organic rice. Technical efficiency is measured by using frontier production function and is istimated using MLE method with Frontier 4.1c computer program. Estimation source of technical inefficiency applies linear regression model that approach simultaneously using frontier production function. The research result indicates that most variables are significant and have expected signs, except for organik solid feltilizer has not significant. The research olso find that the level of technical efficiency varies from 0.423 to 0.999 with the average of 836. Furthermore, variables of farmers education levels, farm organic rice experience, age of the farmers, frekuency of farmers agricultural extentions, and farmer perception on climate change are influencing to reduce technical inefficiency

Rural Reform and Fiji's Indigenous Sugarcane Growers: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis

We examine the performance of Fiji's indigenous sugarcane growers, measuring their technical efficiency using a stochastic frontier production function. Of particular interest are the cooperative or communal farming structures among new entrants into Fiji's sugar industry. These structures are emerging in response to government rationalisation policies in agricultural support-from individuals to groups-and the growing emphasis from the indigenous community on economic activity to reflect community requirements, values and imperatives. Our study finds that growers who are members of a cooperative group have higher levels of technical efficiency than growers who live in villages and that their performance is on par with galala or independent growers. Group structures are used as vehicles to centralise management decision-making and pool resources, thereby overcoming experience and capital accumulation constraints. The research also shows that these structures provide a vital mechanism for aligning cultural values and legitimising individual economic activity that has communal benefits. This finding is not only important for Fiji's struggling agricultural sector, it points a way forward for other South Pacific island nations and other countries where agricultural intensification is carried out on communally owned land