Abstract
Periurban farming systems are characterized by the need to adapt the farming practices coping with a modified natural and social environment. Questions are thus posed on the efficient use of the inputs. The purpose of this study is to estimate the technical efficiency and the productivity of periurban farms. To do so, the study employs a data envelopment analysis that properly captures the heterogeneity of the periurban farming system. The sample considered livestock and crop farms, located in the South Milan Agricultural Park, where 50 farms were selected and interviewed. Results show that crop farms are more efficient than livestock farms, but they have a less productive technology. The participation in short food supply chains and the multifunctional agriculture does not affect the levels of technical efficiency of the farms. Policies are thus needed to improve the education level of farmers and to sustain the efficiency of farms that diversify the farm’s economy.
Highlights
The periurban farming system (PFS) is defined as the farming system which is performed close to the urban area (FAO, 2010)
Results on the the overall efficiency (TEo) show that livestock farms are more efficient than crops in the use of their inputs: livestock farms can improve their efficiency by 22%, while crop farms by 24%
Scale efficiency (SE overall) is higher for livestock producers than crop farms (Table 4), suggesting that production could increase by about 8% if livestock farms could adjust their scale efficiency, a lower value compared to 11% of potential output increase for crop producers
Summary
The periurban farming system (PFS) is defined as the farming system which is performed close to the urban area (FAO, 2010). According to ISPRA (2015), almost 60% of the Italian urbanization process between 2008 and 2013 has taken place in agricultural areas, especially on arable land (48%). The impact on the sustainability of the agricultural activity is relevant, especially because of the competition for the use of natural resources, such as land and water, which are critical inputs in the agriculture’s production process. In metropolitan areas, the constant loss of value of the agricultural land assets compared to the urban ones describes the most powerful push toward urbanization (Livanis et al, 2006; Sali et al, 2009; Pirani et al, 2016). Farms in metropolitan areas may be pressured by high rents to adapt their farming practices. In this situation, farms have multiple options: they can improve their
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