Efficiency Of Farm Households Research Articles

The Effect of Farmland Transfer on the Technical Efficiency of Farm Households in China: An Empirical Result of External Environmental Factors

In the context of food security, the market-oriented allocation of factors under the collective ownership system has had a profound impact on agricultural production. As a hot issue under the Household Responsibility System (HRS), the impact mechanism of farmland market transaction on agricultural production efficiency deserves discussion. Based on the stochastic frontier production function model, this paper analyzes the impact of farmland transfer on farmers’ production technical efficiency under the external environmental factors by using the moderating effect and threshold effect. The study found that farmland transfer can improve farmers’ technical efficiency. The market price of agricultural products and farmland transfer subsidies have a positive moderating effect on the impact of farmland transfer on technical efficiency. Furthermore, farmland transfer subsidy shows a nonlinear effect on the impact of technical efficiency.

Heterogeneous effects of improving technical efficiency on household multidimensional poverty: evidence from rural Ethiopia

Smallholder agriculture in developing countries is characterized by low productivity. Improving the productive efficiency of farm households is considered one of the paths to increase productivity and reduce poverty. This study analyzed the poverty reduction effects of improving the technical efficiency of cereal-producing farm households using plot-level data from rural Ethiopia. The effects were also evaluated whether they were heterogeneous relative to the level of crop diversification. Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and stochastic meta-frontier approach were used to estimate the poverty status and the technical efficiency scores, respectively, and the Herfindahl Index (HI) was used to compute crop diversification. The instrumental Tobit Model was specified to estimate the poverty reduction effect of technical efficiency. Our results revealed that the mean technical efficiency of farm households was estimated to be 58%. The poverty estimate results showed that a higher proportion of farm households were multidimensional poor. The incidence of poverty and the mean deprivation score was found to be 57.9% and 44.1%, respectively. Overall, the value of MPI estimated was 31.2%, implying the farm households experienced 31.2% of the total deprivations across all indicators. The HI was 0.51, indicating a moderate degree of crop diversification among farm households. The model results showed that a 10% increase in technical efficiency significantly drives down the household multidimensional poverty by 15.3% at 1% level, keeping other things being constant. Furthermore, ceteris paribus, a 10% increase in technical efficiency significantly reduces household multidimensional poverty by 7.0% and 7.8% at 1% level among moderately diversified and least diversified farm households, respectively. In conclusion, technical efficiency has a higher effect on multidimensional poverty among moderately diversified and least diversified farm households. Therefore, enhancing the productive capacity of farm households among the lower degree of crop diversification to efficiently use production inputs may assist in poverty reduction.

Pattern and implications of labour migration on technical efficiency of farm households: A study in Bundelkhand region of central India

Labour migration and remittance influence resource use efficiency in agriculture. The present study evaluates the impact of labour migration on crop productivity and technical efficiency in the Bundelkhand region of central India. The study is based on a primary survey of 240 farm households, comprising 120 migrant and 120 non-migrant households during 2016-17.The average yield of selected crops was higher in non-migrant households than that of migrant households. However, there was no variation in the input use intensity between the two categories.Factors such as education, farming experience, and access to extension services significantly reduced technical inefficiency for migrant households.In addition to these factors, access to irrigation significantly reduced technical inefficiency for non-migrant households. Development of irrigation infrastructure and strengthening extension linkage can enhance crop productivity and check distress migration in the Bundelkhand region.

Determinants of technical efficiency of potato farmers and effects of constraints on potato production in Northern Ethiopia

AbstractTo improve the national average yield of potato in Ethiopia, which is very low as compared to its potential, factors that influence technical efficiency of potato production need to be determined. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of technical efficiency using a cross-sectional data collected from 368 randomly selected potato producers in Northern Ethiopia using a multi-stage sampling technique. The study employed Cobb–Douglas stochastic frontier model to get farm-level technical efficiency scores. Tobit model and principal component analysis were used to determine the factors that influence technical efficiency of farm households. The results revealed that chemical fertiliser, seed potato, plot size and labour are statistically significant factors that affect potato yield. The average technical efficiency score was estimated to be 75%; and education, experience, off-farm income, household size, membership in a farmers’ association, use of irrigation water, extension contact, use of improved seed, access to product market and weak coordination of stakeholders’ were significant factors influencing technical efficiency. The findings of the study suggest that there is a need for government intervention to create strong market linkage between producers and buyers and to give appropriate training to agricultural extension agents.

Technical Efficiency Analysis of Sugar Cane Production in East Java

Having an important role as the main supplier of sugar cane in Indonesia that processed into sugar, so that East Java as a producer of sugar cane both with Ratoon Cane (RC) and Plant Cane (PC) must be supported by the government to be more productive and competitive. One of them is through increasing sugar cane yield through increasing technical efficiency. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level of technical efficiency in the use of sugar cane farming and identify the level of technical efficiency of farm households. The research location was determined purposively in Malang, Pasuruan, Lumajang, Bondowoso and Situbondo Regencies in July - December in 2018. Determination of respondents was carried out using the typical case sampling method. The technical efficiency of each farmer is carried out using a comparison of the actual production functions achieved by farmers using the frontier production function. The results showed the level of technical efficiency in sugar cane farming in wetland and dry land using RC and PC planting systems respectively averaged 89.44% and 99.80% so it was technically efficient.

Agricultural productivity and poverty of agricultural households in Burkina Faso

Reducing the number of people living below poverty or ensuring that those who are above the poverty line do not fall back into poverty is one of the priorities of those who are concerned about people's well-being. To achieve this, governments need a number of specific indicators to define the content of development aid policies. The objective of this article is to analyse the effects of agricultural productivity on poverty of agricultural households in Burkina Faso. To do this, a multidimensional analysis of poverty is adopted. Logistic regressions in randomised cylinder panels have highlighted the effects of agricultural productivity on poverty of agricultural households. The technical efficiency of farm households, particularly in cereal and groundnut crops, has a positive effect on the probability of getting out of the income poverty of farm households. This is not the case in cotton crops. On the basis of these results, any policy aiming at effectively reducing the poverty of agricultural households should, as a priority, reinforce the technical efficiency of cereals and groundnut farmers.

Agricultural productivity and poverty of agricultural households in Burkina Faso

Reducing the number of people living below poverty or ensuring that those who are above the poverty line do not fall back into poverty is one of the priorities of those who are concerned about people's well-being. To achieve this, governments need a number of specific indicators to define the content of development aid policies. The objective of this article is to analyse the effects of agricultural productivity on poverty of agricultural households in Burkina Faso. To do this, a multidimensional analysis of poverty is adopted. Logistic regressions in randomised cylinder panels have highlighted the effects of agricultural productivity on poverty of agricultural households. The technical efficiency of farm households, particularly in cereal and groundnut crops, has a positive effect on the probability of getting out of the income poverty of farm households. This is not the case in cotton crops. On the basis of these results, any policy aiming at effectively reducing the poverty of agricultural households should, as a priority, reinforce the technical efficiency of cereals and groundnut farmers.

Comparative economics of rural and periurban dairy farming in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka

Cost of milk production is an important economic indicator in assessing the farm household efficiency in milk production as well as basis for price fixation. The study was undertaken to analyse the cost and returns of milk production in rural and periurban dairy farms of Kalaburagi district of Karnataka. The per day maintenance cost in periurban dairy farms (` 150.64) was highest compared to rural dairy farms (` 91.29)for local cows, crossbred cows and buffaloes. Among total maintenance costs of periurban dairy farming, feed and fodder costs accounted major share (73.49%) followed by labour cost (15.53%) and total fixed cost (7.73%). The return per litre of milk was highest (` 8.91) for crossbred cows followed by buffalo (` 4.82) and local cows (` 0.14). The net return from crossbred cow was more than that of buffalo and local cows indicating higher profitability in rearing crossbred cow in the study area.

Conservation Payments and Technical Efficiency of farm Households Participating in the Grain for Green Program on the Loess Plateau of China

This study provides an empirical analysis of household technical efficiency and its determinant factors (especially conservation payments) in the context of the Grain for Green program. On the basis of a sample of 225 farm households on the Loess Plateau in 2007, we estimate household technical efficiency using the data envelopment analysis method. In addition to a traditional ordinary least square (OLS) analysis, quantile regression (QR) analysis is also deployed to explore the possible heterogeneous effects of conservation payments and other variables on the technical efficiency across the quantiles. The results suggest that when off-farm activities are taken into account, households have considerable potential for improving their technical efficiency; OLS analysis shows that conservation payments decrease household efficiency, and the QR analysis suggests that the negative impact is significant only for higher performance households; The presence of children, access of households to leased land markets, credit markets, and extension services all show heterogeneous impacts on household efficiency. On the basis of the findings of the study, policies suggestions to improve the program’s effectiveness are provided.

Analyzing Extents and Determinants of Economic Efficiency of Farm Households in Metekel Zone, Western Ethiopia: Data Envelopment Approach

The study investigated extents and major determinants of economic efficiency of farmers in Metekel zone, western Ethiopia using 2016 rural survey. Multi-stage random technique was used to collect data of 420 farmers. Based on the results of data envelopment approach, the average technical efficiency score of farmers was found as 0.738 and hence they forgone a total income of 7,212.79 Birr. The mean allocative efficiency score was found as 0.350 and hence there is a considerable room to reduce their allocative errors. The mean economic efficiency score was found as 0.256 and hence they can reduce their observed costs by 74.4 percent through reducing their cost inefficiency. The results of Tobit model revealed that family size (+), farm size square (-), livestock size (+), land fragmentation (-), crop diversification (+) and sharecropping (-) were found to have significant effect on economic efficiency of farmers. Therefore, the study forwarded policy suggestions for the concerned bodies to: make further efforts in strengthen mixed crop-livestock farming system with better market infrastructures; train farmers to diversify their crop for risk minimization and market surplus; strengthen tenancy security for sharecroppers; consolidate fragmented plots; give top priority in expanding health services; formulate appropriate strategies for expanding rural farm credit facility; expand off/non-farm job opportunities; and provide an appropriate extension services and agricultural information. Keywords : DEA, Economic Efficiency, Farm Households, Tobit Model, Metekel zone, Western Ethiopia DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-11-04 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

The impact of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic on agricultural production and livelihoods in Liberia.

There is unequivocal evidence in the literature that epidemics adversely affect the livelihoods of individuals, households and communities. However, evidence in the literature is dominated by the socioeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS and malaria, while evidence on the impact of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) on households’ livelihoods remains fragmented and scant. Our study investigates the effect of the EVD epidemic on the livelihoods of Liberian households using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF). The study also explores the effect of the EVD epidemic on agricultural production and productive efficiency of farm households using Spatial Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SSFA). We collected data from 623 households across Liberia in 2015, using a systematic random sampling design. Our results indicated that the annual income of sample households from communities where EVD occurred did not differ from the annual income of households from communities where EVD did not occur. Nonetheless, the majority of sample households reported a decrease in their income, compared to their income in the year before the survey. This suggests that the impact of the EVD epidemic might not only have been limited to communities directly affected by the epidemic, but also it may have indirectly affected communities in areas where EVD was not reported. We also found that the community-level incidence of EVD negatively affected crop production of farm households, which may have exacerbated the problem of food insecurity throughout the country. Moreover, we found that the EVD epidemic weakened the society’s trust in Liberian institutions. In a nutshell, our results highlight that epidemics, such as the recent EVD outbreak, may have long-lasting negative effects on the livelihoods of a society and their effect may extend beyond the communities directly affected by the epidemics. This means that the nation’s recovery from the impact of the epidemic would be more challenging, and the social and economic impacts of the epidemic may extend well beyond the end of the health crisis.

Efficacité Technique des Petits Producteurs du Maïs au Bénin

This study examines how small maize farmers allocate their production inputs and identifies the elements that characterize efficient farms. A Cobb Douglas stochastic frontier approach is used to estimate farm level technical efficiency of maize farmers. Average technical efficiency of sampled farms was estimated to be 65.40% with a minimum of 20.47% and a maximum of 93.46%. The study further showed that the farmers’ sex, the use of improved seeds, the maize selling price, the non-farm income, the contact with an NGO, the access to credit and the production area played a positive and significant role in improving technical efficiency. The results imply that government can save resources used in extension services and focus on its improved seed distribution policy. Also, imperfections in the labor/capital market contribute to the low efficiency of farm households.

Development of crop production in farms: past, present, future

The article deals with the study of the development of crop production in the farms of Lviv region. At the same time, considerable attention is focused on the important components of the functioning of any socio-economic phenomenon: past, present, future. Within this famous triad, we will analyze the activity of Lviv farmers during 2005–2016, because it is the time factor that determines the processes of functioning of any forms of management in agricultural production, an important part of which is farming. As a result of the research, it was established that the number of farms in the Lviv region is decreasing, but land is increasing, that is, there are processes of concentrating agricultural production in some farms and reducing them in others. These changes are objective and regular in nature and will take place in the future. Of particular interest are agricultural production data for farms in Lviv Oblast, whose volumes have a strong upward trend over the period under investigation. However, when analyzing the output figures in terms of the main branches of agriculture, there are some discontinuation processes – crop production is increasing, and animal husbandry – on the contrary, starting from 2010, they tend to decrease. During the research period there were some changes in the indicators of the structure of manufactured products in the sectoral section. So, let's say, when in 2005 crop production accounted for 63.8% of the total output of farm products, then in 2010 this figure dropped to 33.2%. In subsequent years there was an increase in the share of crop production, but this increase did not achieve the achieved level of 2005. The detailed analysis of the indices of production of agricultural crops by farmers by farmers, their yields, volumes of sales of crop production and their effectiveness give grounds to assert that positive developments have been made in this area. However, on the other hand, although farms have achieved some success in their activities, but the available resources are not fully used to improve the efficiency of farm households. These problems, both in modern conditions and for the future, should be solved in the complex: increasing the efficiency of the activity of farmers, on the one hand, and providing them with effective state support, on the other.

Does Market Experience Attenuate Risk Aversion? Evidence from Landed Farm Households in Ethiopia

Summary Risk preferences are important drivers of many relevant economic decisions of farm households. High risk aversion is a well-known trigger of “poverty traps” for farm households in developing countries. This paper analyzes the effect of market experience on risk aversion for a relatively large sample of landed farm households characterized by historically low mobility in Ethiopia. We measure risk aversion using lab-in-field experimental data, and relate it to actual market experience of household heads. We use an instrumental variable approach to address the issue of endogeneity due to possible self-selection into trade. We find that market experience attenuates risk aversion––farm households with greater market experience are more risk tolerant. Results are robust to using several alternative specifications, controlling for internal mobility, out-migration and other potential unobservables, and for violations to rational choice. Overall, this study provides strong empirical evidence that risk preferences endogenously change as a result of market experience, and can help design policies aiming to increase the productivity and efficiency of farm households.

Technical efficiency of smallholders’ traditional African vegetable production in Tanzania: a stochastic frontier approach

Traditional African vegetables are receiving more attention for their potential contribution to food and nutrition security and enhanced livelihoods for smallholder producers. Although demand is increasing for these nutrient-dense crops, the productivity of traditional vegetables in Tanzania remains low. Technical innovations can reduce yield gaps and increase the productivity of traditional vegetable crops. This paper measures the technical efficiency of farm households that produce traditional vegetables in Tanzania using the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. Data was obtained through a survey of 181 households that cultivated traditional vegetables in five regions (Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam). The results show considerable levels of technical inefficiency in the production of traditional vegetables. Technical efficiency among farm households could be increased by 33% through the better use of available production resources. The test for equality of technical efficiency indicated that there were statistically significant differences in technical efficiency across farm size, with larger landholdings having higher observed values than smallholdings. Strengthening farmer associations to encourage knowledge sharing and enhancing the existing cluster approach to farming may help to improve technical efficiency.

English

Traditional African vegetables are receiving more attention for their significant contribution to food and nutrition security and enhanced livelihoods of smallholders. Although demand is increasing for these nutrients-dense crops, the production of traditional vegetables in Tanzania remains low. Technical innovations can reduce yield gaps and increase the productivity of traditional vegetable crops. This paper measures the technical efficiency of farm households that produce traditional vegetables in Tanzania using a Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. This study reports data from a primary survey of 181 households that cultivated traditional vegetables in five regions (Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam) of Tanzania. The results show that overall mean technical efficiency is 67%. It indicates that if the average farmer of the sample could achieve the technical efficiency level of most efficient counterpart, then average farmers of the sample could increase their output by 27% with better use of available production resources given the current state of technology. Farmers were observed to be more technically efficient in the Arusha region than in the other study regions. Possible reasons for the observed regional difference include agroclimatic variability, access to extension services, and infrastructure facilities. A linear relationship exists between farm size and technical efficiency. The study concludes that strengthening farmer associations to encourage knowledge sharing and enhancing the existing cluster approach to farming may help to improve technical efficiency. Key words: Smallholders, inefficiency, resource use, inputs, technology.

Production and scale efficiency of maize farming households in South-Western Nigeria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate production and scale efficiency of maize producing farms in South-Western Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a semi-parametric approach and uses a combination of econometrics and linear programming to build two stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. Findings – Model findings shows existence of production and scale inefficiencies in maize production. The study concludes that there is still room for efficiency improvements in the existence of the current maize production technology. It also finds several socio-economic variables such as, off-farm work, education, extension services and credit, which positively impact on technical efficiency of farm households. Practical implications – Efficiency indicators could be used to monitor resource use efficiency in crop production by local government. Social implications – Efficiency improvements will increase maize production in the country which in turn reduce social unrest and food insecurity. Originality/value – This study is one of the first which has employed DEA approach to analyze maize productivity and pioneer in using non-traditional bootstrapping approach to obtain robust efficiency scores in the case of Nigeria.

Off-Farm Employment and Outsourcing Production Effects on the Technical Efficiency of Farm Households’ Grain Production - A Case with the Data from Liaoning Province, China

This paper analyzed the effects of the off-farm employment and the outsourcing production pattern on the technical efficiency of grain production by the two-step method of DEA-Tobit, based on the data of grain production in the major areas of Liaoning province, in the year of 2011. It observed these findings that off-farm employment and income structure change did not have an effect on technical efficiency. Even then this is evidence that age makes a negative effect on farm technical efficiency but it is weakly. Farm scale and specialization have a positive effect on technical efficiency. And both large farm and small farms scale efficiency is on a high level. So a limited impact on farm technical efficiency comes from farm scale as well as a significant positive impact comes from farms production outsourcing.

Evaluating the Performance of Maize Farmers in Nigeria Using Stochastic Distance and Stochastic Production Frontiers

This study estimates the technical, allocative and cost efficiency of farm households using stochastic distance and stochastic production frontiers. Further, the study examines determinants of efficiency. Data was collected from a random sample of 240 maize farmers in Benue State Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Results from both distance and production frontiers show that farmers in the area are inefficient. Although the efficiency measures from the two frontiers are quantitatively different from each another, the overall consistency check shows that the farm households were ranked similarly by both approaches. This is particularly robust to allocative and cost efficiency. Improved maize seed, inorganic fertilizers, conservation practices, size of farm holdings, education, and access to extension services, credit and market were found to have significant impact on efficiency. Thus, investment in agricultural research coupled with complementary policies is an effective instrument for revamping agriculture and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

Economic efficiency in farm households: trends, explanatory factors, and estimation methods

AbstractFactors explaining differences in economic efficiency between farms are of major interest to owners, managers, and other stakeholders as they strive to improve earnings and improve the chances of firm survival. This study is undertaken to improve our understanding of interfarm differences in, and opportunities to improve, farm household efficiency in utilizing their land, labor, and capital resources to achieve household objectives. The technical, allocative, and scale efficiencies of farm households are estimated using a nonparametric, output‐based data envelopment analysis (DEA) of a panel data set from 1993 to 2006. Single and double bootstrapping procedures are used to estimate technical efficiency. Initial technical efficiency assuming variable returns to scale (TEV) is estimated to be 0.83. Using single bootstrapping, the average bias‐corrected TEV estimate is 0.70; using double bootstrapping, the TEV estimate is 0.72. Allocative efficiency is estimated to be 0.81. Scale efficiency is estimated to be 0.93. The only factor that is consistently associated with higher technical efficiency across analysis methods and years is larger farm size (as measured by the log of farm income). The significance of other factors changes with analysis methods.