Impacts of the use of biological pest control on the technical efficiency of the Brazilian agricultural sector.

Abstract

This paper aimed to assess the impact of the intensive use of biological control on the technical efficiency of the Brazilian agricultural sector. The study also considered the influence of factors such as technical assistance, rural financing, and membership in cooperatives or class entities on efficiency measures. It was estimated stochastic production frontiers for regions intensively using and not using biological control, considering potential selection bias. Results demonstrate that areas with intensive use of biological pest management have a 0.863 technical efficiency score, while this score is 0.823 for nonintensive areas. This means that the intensive regions would be closer to their efficiency frontiers. Additionally, technical assistance and membership in cooperative or class entities increase efficiency by 6 and 2.5%, respectively. It can be concluded that the intensive adoption of biological control can raise the productive performance of the Brazilian agricultural sector. Therefore, it must be highlighted the importance of formulating joint policies (e.g., credit+rural extension) for the adoption of biological control to be a feasible option to promote the sustainable development of the Brazilian agricultural sector.