Comparison of Technology and Technical Efficiency in Cereal Production among EU Countries


No 2/2015, June
pp. 27-37

Cechura L., Hockmann H., Malý M., Žáková Kroupová Z. (2015) "Comparison of Technology and Technical Efficiency in Cereal Production among EU Countries“, AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 27 – 37. ISSN 1804-1930

Abstract

The paper presents the analysis of cereal production in the EU. The analysis provides the comparison of production technologies and technical efficiency among EU countries using the country specific multiple output distance function models in the first step and metafrontier approach in the second step to determine the level and development of technical efficiency. The results show the high technical efficiency of cereal producers in the analyzed countries. On average, the differences in technical efficiency among the analyzed countries are not pronounced; however, the technologies used as well as the determinants of technical efficiency differ significantly.

Keywords

Cereal production, multiple output distance function, technical efficiency, technology, metafrontier analysis, SFA.

References

  1. Atici, K. B., Podinovski, V. V. Using data envelopment analysis for the assessment of technical efficiency of units with different specialisations: An application to agriculture. Omega, 2015, Vol. 54, p. 72-83. ISSN 0305-0483. DOI 10.1016/j.omega.2015.01.015.
  2. AMIS database by FAO, AMIS 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.amis-outlook.org/home/en/ [Accessed: 18 Feb. 2015].
  3. Álvarez, A., Arias, C., Greene, W. Accounting for unobservables in production models: management and inefficiency. Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/72, Centro de Estudios Andaluces. 2004, p. 18. [Online] Available: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cea:doctra:e2004_72. [Accessed: 18 Feb. 2015].
  4. Álvarez, A., Arias, C., Greene, W. Fixed Management and time invariant technical efficiency in a random coefficient model. Working Paper, Department of Economics, Stern School of Business, New York University, 2003, p. 10. [Online] Available: http://www.eco.uc3m.es/temp/alvarez_pinilla.pdf [Accessed: 18 Feb. 2015].
  5. Baranyai, Z., Kodenko, J., Belovecz, M., Végh, K. Technological challenges of Hungarian cereal production - Analysis of the situation and alternatives. Cereal Research Communications. 2009, Vol. 37, p. 457-460. ISSN 0133-3720.
  6. Baráth, F., Ferto, I. Heterogeneous technology, scale of land use and technical efficiency: The case of Hungarian crop farms. Land Use Policy. 2015, Vol. 42, p. 141-150. ISSN 0264-8377. DOI 10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.07.015.
  7. Barnes, A. P., Revoredo-Giha, C. A Metafrontier Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Selected European Agricultures. Paper provided by European Association of Agricultural Economists in its series 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland.
  8. Batten, A., Hossain, I. Stochastic frontier model with distributional assumptions for rice production technical efficiency. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. 2014, Vol. 16, No. 3, p. 481-496, ISSN 1680-7073.
  9. Blazejczyk-Majka, L., Kala, R., Maciejewski, K. Productivity and efficiency of large and small field crop farms and mixed farms of the old and new EU regions. Agricultural Economics. 2012, Vol. 58, No. 2, p. 61-71. ISSN 0139-570X. DOI 10.17221/48/2011-AGRICECON.
  10. Coelli, T., Perelman, S. Efficiency Measurment, Multiple-output Technologies and Distance Fucntions: With Application to European Railways, CREPP 96/05, Université de Liége. 1996, p. 31. [Online] Available: http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/35665 [Accessed: 18 Feb. 2015].
  11. Dhehibi, B., Alimari, A., Haddad, N., Aw-Hassan, A. Technical efficiency of Kenya's smallholder food crop farmers: do environmental factors matter? Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2014, p. 1-12. ISSN 1387-585X.
  12. Hadley, D., Irz, X. Productivity and farm profit - A microeconomic analysis of the cereal sector in England and Wales. Applied Economics. 2008, Vol. 40, No. 5, p. 613-624. ISSN 0003-6846. DOI 10.1080/00036840600707209.
  13. Hussain, A., Saboor, A., Khan, M. A., Mohsin, A. Q., Hassan, F., Anwar, M. Z. Technical efficiency of wheat production in Punjab (Pakistan): A cropping zone wise analysis. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences, 2012, Vol. 10, No. 2, p. 130-138. ISSN 1727-4915.
  14. Jondrow, J., Knox Lovell, C. A., Materov, I. S., Schmidt, P. On the Estimation of Technical Inefficiency in the Stochastic Frontier Production Function Model, Journal of Econometrics, 1982, Vol. 19, p. 233-238. ISSN 0304-4076. DOI 10.1016/0304-4076(82)90004-5.
  15. Kumbhakar, S. C., Lovell, C. A. K. Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Cambridge: University Press. 2000, p. 333. ISBN 0-521-48184-8. DOI 10.1017/cbo9781139174411.
  16. Jansson, T., Heckelei, T. Estimating a primal model of regional crop supply in the European Union. Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2011, 62, No. 1, p. 137-152. ISSN 1477-9552. DOI 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00270.x.
  17. Latruffe, L., Nauges, C. Technical efficiency and conversion to organic farming: The case of France. European Review of Agricultural Economics. 2014, Vol. 41, No. 2, p. 227-253. ISSN 1464-3618. DOI 10.1093/erae/jbt024.
  18. Latruffe, L., Fogarasi, J., Desjeux, Y. Efficiency, productivity and technology comparison for farms in Central and Western Europe: The case of field crop and dairy farming in Hungary and France. Economic Systems. 2012, Vol. 36, No. 2, p. 264-278. ISSN 0939-3625. DOI 10.1016/j.ecosys.2011.07.002.
  19. Ministry of Agriculture. Situation and Outlook Report – Cereals, Ministry of Agriculture (MA-CZ), since 2014. ISBN 978-80-7434-191-5.
  20. Ndlovu, P. V., Mazvimavi, K., An, H., Murendo, C. Productivity and efficiency analysis of maize under conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe. Agricultural Systems. 2014, Vol. 124, p. 21-31. ISSN 0308-521X. DOI 10.1016/j.agsy.2013.10.004.
  21. Odeck, J. Measuring technical efficiency and productivity growth: A comparison of SFA and DEA on Norwegian grain production data. Applied Economics. 2007, Vol. 39, No. 20, p. 2617-2630. ISSN 0003-6846. DOI 10.1080/00036840600722224.
  22. Skevas, T., Lansink, A. O., Stefanou, S. E. Measuring technical efficiency in the presence of pesticide spillovers and production uncertainty: The case of Dutch arable farms. European Journal of Operational Research. 2012, Vol. 223, No. 2, p. 550-559. ISSN 03772217. DOI 10.1016/j.ejor.2012.06.034.
  23. Tiffin, R., Renwick, A. Estimates of production response in the UK cereal sector using nonparametric methods. European Review of Agricultural Economics. 1996, 23, No. 2, p. 179-194. ISSN 1464-3618. DOI 10.1093/erae/23.2.179.
  24. Tozer, P. R., Villano, R. Decomposing productivity and efficiency among Western Australian grain producers. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 2013, Vol. 38, No. 3, p. 312-326. ISSN 1068-5502.
  25. Wang, X., Hockmann, H., Bai, J. Technical efficiency and producers' individual technology: Accounting for within and between regional farm heterogeneity. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2012, Vol. 60, No. 4, p. 561-576. ISSN: 1744-7976. DOI 10.1111/j.1744-7976.2012.01264.x.
  26. Wouterse, F. Migration and technical efficiency in cereal production: Evidence from Burkina Faso. Agricultural Economics. 2010, Vol. 41, No. 5, p. 385-395. ISSN 1805-9295. DOI 10.1111/j.1574-0862.2010.00452.x.

Full paper

  Full paper (.pdf, 775.55 KB).