The Effect of Crop Specialization on Farms' Performance : A Bayesian Non-neutral Stochastic Frontier Approach

A Bayesian non-neutral stochastic input distance function model is used to examine whether output specialization has an impact on the economic performance of vegetable producers in Benin. Specialization is assumed to have an effect on the production frontier itself, as well as on the distance of each producer's observed data to this frontier (technical efficiency). A derivative-based measure of economies of scope is obtained by exploiting the duality between the shadow cost and the input distance functions. In this study, we also control for spatial heterogeneity of vegetable production by including a soil fertility variable in the production function at the farm level. The technology is found to exhibit no economies of scope, indicating that vegetable producers have no incentive for specialization or diversification. However, the degree of specialization has a positive effect on technical efficiency. From a policy perspective, the findings imply that policies to encourage specialization may lead to higher performance

Assessing the impact of crop specialization on farms’ performance in vegetables farming in Benin: a non-neutral stochastic frontier approach

A non-neutral stochastic distance function model is used to examine whether output specialization has an impact on the economic performance of vegetable producers in Benin. Specialization is assumed to have an effect on the production frontier and on the distance to the production frontier (technical inefficiency). The technology is found to exhibit diseconomies of scope, indicating that vegetable producers have an incentive for specialization. At the same time, the degree of specialization has a positive effect on technical efficiency. From a policy perspective, the findings imply that current government policies to encourage diversification may lead to a lower performance

Estimating shadow prices and efficiency analysis of productive inputs and pesticide use of vegetable production

This paper analyzes technical efficiency and the value of the marginal product of productive inputs vis-a-vis pesticide use to measure allocative efficiency of pesticide use along productive inputs. We employ the data envelopment analysis framework and marginal cost techniques to estimate technical efficiency and the shadow values of each input. A bootstrap technique is applied to overcome the limitations of DEA and helps to estimate the mean and 95 percent confidence intervals of the estimated quantities. The methods are applied to a sample of vegetable producers in Benin over the period 2009-2010. Results indicated that bias corrected technical efficiency scores are lower than the initial measures and the former estimates are statistically significant. The application results show that vegetable producers are less efficient with respect to pesticide use than other inputs. Also, results suggest that pesticides, land and fertilizers are overused.</p

Le budget d’autofinancement affecte t-il l’inefficience technique pure ? Cas des producteurs de maïs au Bénin

Cette étude utilise une approche semi-paramétrique en deux étapes dans un cadre de fonction de distance directionnelle pour évaluer l’influence du budget d’autofinancement sur l’inefficience technique pure des producteurs de maïs au Bénin. En premier lieu, l’inefficience technique pure a été estimée avec la méthode DEA. Ensuite, les niveaux d’inefficience technique pure obtenus ont été expliqués par le budget d’autofinancement et des facteurs environnementaux en utilisant la régression bootstrap tronquée unique. Les analyses empiriques ont été effectuées sur 151 producteurs de maïs. Les résultats d’inefficience ont montré que seulement 20,53% des producteurs de maïs sont techniquement efficients. Le modèle DEA a aussi indiqué que les producteurs peuvent améliorer leur efficience en augmentant leur niveau de production actuelle et en réduisant simultanément leur usage actuel d’intrants de 26%. L’analyse des sources de l’inefficience a révélé que le budget d’autofinancement affecte négativement et faiblement l’inefficience technique pure des producteurs. En conséquence, les politiques visant à réduire la contrainte de budget sont nécessaires pour améliorer l’efficience technique des producteurs de maïs au Bénin

Estimating farmers’ productive and marketing inefficiency:an application to vegetable producers in Benin

This paper estimates the technical and marketing inefficiency of a sample of urban vegetable producers in Benin. Marketing inefficiency is defined as the failure of farmers to achieve better marketing output and is reflected in lower output price indices. The study proposes a Russell-type measure of inefficiency using a directional distance function that accounts simultaneously for the expansion of outputs and price indices and the contraction of variable inputs. A truncated bootstrap regression is used in the second stage to consistently analyze factors that underlie differences in inefficiency. The first-stage results suggest that vegetable producers are more inefficient with respect to marketing than production. The second-stage results indicate that technical inefficiency is affected by the production environment and private extension services. Marketing inefficiency is affected by the type of marketing arrangements