Abstract
A single and a double bootstrap of data envelopment analysis examines Harran Plain cotton farming in Turkey. The single bootstrap technique was employed to derive the bias-corrected efficiency values under both constant returns to scale (CRS) and versus variable returns to scale (VRS) technologies while discriminating between the two technologies using a smoothed bootstrap test statistic. Results indicated that the farms operated under VRS technology. Given that VRS technology prevailed across Harran Plain cotton farmers sampled, we then determined factors affecting the bias-corrected technical efficiencies using the double bootstrap technique. Another important finding in the single bootstrap analysis is that cotton farmers in the region have a U-shaped technical efficiency based on the input and output scale. Thus, small-scale farmers tend to use their resources more efficiently in cotton farming than that of both medium- and large-scale farmers. Interestingly, the medium-scale farmers with resource inefficiency are at the forefront of the other two types of farmers (i.e., small-scale and large-scale) on the Harran Plain in Turkey. The results also showed that most of the farm and farmer specific as well as economic factors play a significant role in explaining the technical efficiency values.
Highlights
Cotton has strategic importance in Turkish agriculture, industry, and trade
SW used a double bootstrap procedure with consistent inferences to explain and predict efficiency scores with valid standard errors and confidence intervals [9]. Another feature that distinguishes our study is that earlier studies have implemented a double bootstrap technique by choosing the technical efficiency of the farmers based on verbal assumption without empirically testing, whereas this study empirically presents the existence of the farm technical efficiency by using a single bootstrap technique
The results indicate that an average cotton farmer that performs as efficiently as its benchmark can achieve the same level of output using 28.8% and 16.5% fewer inputs, on average, under constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS), respectively
Summary
Cotton has strategic importance in Turkish agriculture, industry, and trade. Turkey is one of the top cotton-producing countries and produced 2,450,000 MT in 2017 [1], while the textile industry represents one of the leading sectors in the Turkish economy and accounted for 16% of total export value in 2017. This study attempts to analyze the technical efficiency of cotton production on the Harran Plain using an up-to-date data enveloping analysis, DEA, (including the application of the double bootstrap technique) and seeks to close the current knowledge gap by providing empirical evidence on resource utilization efficiency. In this context, the available double bootstrap DEA techniques developed by Simar and Wilson [8], hereafter SW, were applied to the data. The final part presents conclusions along with some policy implications
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