Technical efficiency of rice producing households in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Huynh-Truong, Huy (2009): Technical efficiency of rice producing households in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Published in: Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development , Vol. 6, No. 2 (December 2009): pp. 35-50.

Abstract

Technical Efficiency (TE) is defined as an estimation of the ability of a household to produce the maximum output with the given inputs. It is usually estimated by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Data collected from 261 rice farming households in the Mekong Delta were used in the empirical analysis. Results show that the average TE among the surveyed households is above 76% in both the Constant (CRS) and the Variable Returns to Scale (VRS). The average scale efficiency score for these rice producing households is nearly one. The determinants of the quantity of rice or yields and of the TE for the households are significantly related with some variables such as the plot size, seed, and hired labor cost. However, technical inefficiency significantly depends on the farmers’ farming experience and adoption of advanced farming practices.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Technical efficiency, rice-producing household
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D61 - Allocative Efficiency ; Cost-Benefit Analysis

References

Aigner, D., C.A.K. Lovell, and P. Schmidt. 1977. Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. Journal of Econometrics. 6: 21-37.

Banker, R.D., A. Charnes and W.W. Cooper. 1978, Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Science. 30(9): 108-109.

Binh, T.V. 2007. Establishing agricultural economic models in Nhon Nghia commune, Phong Dien district, Can Tho City.

Bordey, H.F. 2004. Socio-economic evaluation of hybrid rice production in the Philippines. Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines: Philippine Rice Research Institute

Charnes, A., W.W. Cooper, and E. Rhodes. 1978. Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. European Journal of Operational Research 2: 429-441.

Chengappa, J., A. Janaiah, and M.V.S. Gowda. 2003. Profitability of hybrid rice cultivation: evidence from Karnataka. Economic and Political Weekly. June 21: 2531-2534.

Chen, Y. and A.I. Ali. 2002. Output-input ratio analysis and DEA frontier. European Journal of Operational Research. 142: 476-479.

Coelli, T.J., D.S.P. Rao, and G. Battese. 1998. An introduction to efficiency and productivity analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

Den, D.T., A. Tihomir, and M. Harris. 2007. Technical efficiency of prawn farms in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Paper contributed to the 51st AARES Annual Conference, 12-15 February 2007. Queenstown, NZ.

Farrell, M.J. 1957. The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (General). 120(3): 253 - 281.

Ellis, F. 1993. Peasant economics: farm households and agrarian development (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

Hien, N.T.M. 2003. A study on technical efficiency of rice production in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam by stochastic frontier analysis. Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University. 48(1/2): 325-357.

Khuda, B., H. Ishtiaq and M. Asif. 2005. Impact assessment of zero-tillage technology in rice-wheat system: a case study from Pakistani Punjab. Electronic Journal of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 4(6): 1132-1137.

Kim, H. 2010. Vietnam’s rice export in 2009 reaches 6 million tons. Saigon Economic Times. Retrieved 17 January 2010 from the World Wide Web at http://www.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/diendan/bandocviet/28680/

Kompas, T. 2002. Market reform, productivity and efficiency in Vietnamese rice production. National Center for Development Studies, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management, Australian National University. Canberra, Australia.

Linh, H.V. 2007. Efficiency of rice farming households in Vietnam: a DEA with bootstrap and stochastic frontier application. Paper presented at the 87th Southwestern Economics Association Annual Meeting, 14-17 March 2007. New Mexico, USA.

Meeusen, W. and V.D. Broeck. 1977. Efficiency estimation from Cobb-Douglas production functions with composed error. International Economic Review. 18(2): 435-444.

Minot, N. 2003. Income diversification and poverty in the northern uplands of Vietnam. Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division, International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington DC, USA.

Nhut. Q.M. 2007. Allocation and cost efficiency analysis of selected farming patterns within and outside boundary irrigated systems in Tri Ton and Cho Moi districts, An Giang province (Mekong River Delta, Vietnam), Center for Asian Studies Discussion Paper Vol. 54. Antwerpen University. Antwerp, Belgium.

Oladele. O.I. and J.I. Sakagami. 2004. Impact of technology innovation on rice yield gap in Asia and West Africa: technology transfer issues. Development Research Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences. Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Richard, T.Y and E.G. Shively. 2007. Technical change and productive efficiency: irrigated rice in the Philippines. Asian Economic Journal. 21(2): 155–168. Soc Trang Agricultural Extension Center. 2004. Production efficiency of the IPM-based rice farming. Annual report. STAEC, Soc Trang province, Viet Nam.

Son, N.P. 2010. Socio-economic efficiency and development potential of Artermia production on salt-based area in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam, PhD Dissertation, Antwerpen University. Antwerp, Belgium.

Tijani, A.A. 2006. Analysis of the technical efficiency of rice farms in Ijesha Land of Osun State, Nigeria. Agrekon. 45(2): 126-135.

Tran, T.U. 2002. The impact of Green Revolution on rice production in Vietnam. Paper presented at the Workshop on Green Revolution in Asia and its Transferability to Africa, 8-10 December 2002. Tokyo, Japan.

Vietnam General Statistical Office. 2003 and 2004. Some indicators in agriculture, forestry, fishery. (Tổng Cục Thống Kê Việt Nam, Các chỉ số Nông nghiệp, lâm nghiệp và thuỷ sản). Retrieved 15 September 2005 from the World Wide Web at http://www.gso.gov.vn