Technical Change and Productive Efficiency: Irrigated Rice in the Philippines*

Panel data are used to study the technical efficiency of rice producers in the Philippines. Production efficiency over time is measured using a stochastic frontier regression with error decomposition. Sources of inefficiency are identified and the link between irrigation and productive efficiency is measured. Results suggest that irrigation was associated with higher levels of technical efficiency in the sample.     

Technical Inefficiency and Production Risk in Rice Farming: Evidence from Central Luzon Philippines*

There have been many previous studies of technical inefficiency in rice production in the Philippines, but none has focused simultaneously on production risk and technical inefficiency at the farm level. Rice production is inherently risky because of the heterogeneous production environment. In this study, we analyze technical inefficiency in a rainfed lowland rice environment in Central Luzon using a stochastic frontier production function with a heteroskedastic error structure. An 8‐year panel dataset collected from 46 rainfed rice farmers was used to estimate flexible functional specifications. Over the whole period, the average technical efficiency was found to be 79 percent. Results indicate that there is a high degree of variability in technical efficiency estimates, which can be attributed to the instability of farming conditions in the rainfed lowland environment. Mean output was signifificantly influenced by area planted to rice, labor and the amount of fertilizer used. Consequently, these inputs were found to be risk‐increasing, whereas herbicide was found to be a risk‐reducing input.     

Nonparametric Evaluation of Economies of Scope in the Context of Technical Efficiency: The Case of Rice and Vegetable Farms in Korea

This paper provides a nonparametric evaluation of economies of scope in the context of technical efficiency allowing for non‐convexity, with an application to Korean rice and vegetable farms. Relying on non‐parametric‐free disposal hull and data envelopment analysis approaches and input–output data for rice and vegetable farms from the Korea Farm Household Economy Survey data collected in 2007, this article examines technical inefficiency and its decomposition under non‐convexity and convexity. Empirical measures of technical inefficiency and its decomposition results are provided, with a focus on a component of technical inefficiency associated with economies of scope (i.e. diversification benefits) under non‐convexity in production technology. The decomposition measures of technical inefficiency include pure technical inefficiency, size inefficiency and diversification inefficiency. The results provide empirical evidence supporting size‐dependent diversification strategies, where benefits of diversification are larger for small farms on average compared to those of large farms.     

Dynamics of Agricultural Productivity and Technical Efficiency in Togo: The Role of Technological Change

In the search for ways to boost agricultural productivity for the take‐off of the so‐advocated agricultural transformation, we investigate in this paper whether there is room under current technologies to boost agricultural productivity through technical efficiency, focusing on the five administrative regions of Togo. We use a regional stochastic frontier model, which assumes that farmers maximize return to the outlay in order to account for potential endogeneity and regional heterogeneities to a panel data for the period 2000–2014. The findings reveal that technical efficiency in agriculture varies considerably across regions and over time. In addition, our results indicate that the country can rely on irrigation intensification to sustain its move towards higher agricultural technical efficiency, while higher rainfall variability puts additional pressure on the achievement of such objective. The policy message drawn from this study supports policy strategies designed to promote irrigation and increased rainfall variability management tools, such as weather insurance, as sound agricultural technical efficiency driven options.     

EFFICIENCY AND FARM SIZE IN WESTERN CAPE GRAPE PRODUCTION: POOLING SMALL DATASETS

A stochastic frontier is fitted to two panels of wine grape farms (34 in Robertson and 36 in Worcester) for 2003 and 2004 and a cross section of 37 table grape farms in De Doorns for 2004 only. The panel of wine grape farms is the best model as tests show that De Doorns is different. Output is explained by land, labour and machinery and efficiency is affected by labour quality, age and education of the farmer, location, the percentage of non‐bearing vines and expenditures on electricity for irrigation. There is evidence of a small degree of increasing returns to scale.     

Technical Efficiency of Rice Farms in Different Agroclimatic Zones in the Philippines: An Application of a Stochastic Metafrontier Model*

Rice producers in the Philippines operate in spatially diverse physical environments that are largely beyond their control. We decompose total factor productivity into technical efficiencies and environment–technology gap ratios across four climatic zones for selected years from 1996/1997 to 2005/2006 using farm‐level panel data. Results show surprisingly little interzonal and intertemporal variation in productivity. It appears that Philippine rice producers have been able to adapt their crop management strategies sufficiently to suit their particular agroclimatic conditions. However, after an increase in the first 5 years of the study period, mean environment–metatechnology gap ratios stagnated in the second 5 years. The metafrontier does not appear to have substantially shifted outwards over the whole period, suggesting that rice producers achieved little technological progress and increased total factor productivity.     

PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT OF THE MODERN VARIETIES OF RICE IN INDIA

The present paper analyzed the long‐term yield growth and total factor productivity (TFP) growth by applying Tornqvist‐Theil index method for two periods, namely, 1970–85 (early Green Revolution) and 1986–2000 (late Green Revolution), for major rice‐growing states of India. The yield data shows an increasing long‐term growth trend throughout the Green Revolution period in irrigated states where modern variety (MV) adoption was nearly complete. However, yield advances started to slow down for intensive irrigated rice systems in the 1990s, whereas rainfed ecosystems have increased during the late Green Revolution period. The domestic spillovers of MV from irrigated to rainfed states is likely to be one of the contributing factors to increased TFP growth in ranifed areas after the 1980s. This implies that the MV of rice developed for irrigated ecosystems have also benefited substantially the rainfed‐dominant eastern Indian states in the long run where partial irrigation facilities such as shallow tube wells were created after the mid‐1980s.     

Seller Beware: Supply and Demand Reduction and Price Manipulation in Multiple‐Unit Uniform Price Auctions

We experimentally compare under‐revelation of supply and demand across alternative variations of ascending and descending two‐sided price clock auctions. We find that buyers reduce demand more when the price is ascending but sellers’ behavior is consistent across clock directions. As a result, the clock price rule has empirical effects on efficiency even though it is theoretically neutral.     

INTENSIFICATION OF RAINFED LOWLAND RICE PRODUCTION IN WEST AFRICA: PRESENT STATUS AND POTENTIAL GREEN REVOLUTION

The objective of the current paper is to explore the factors influencing the expansion and intensification of rice production in rainfed lowland sites. The village/lowland‐level data show the following: (1) the expansion of lowland rice cultivation has been driven by population pressure and accessibility to the market; and (2) the adoption of water control technologies is enhanced by the existence of immigrants and accessibility to the market. Rice cultivator data show that investment in water supply canals is influenced by land tenure security and that the canals enhance yield. This suggests that investment in water control technologies in rainfed lowland is necessary to realize a rice Green Revolution. Considering the fairly high average yield already achieved with water control technologies and the vast area of lowlands without water control technologies in rural area, there is a high potential of a rice Green Revolution in rainfed lowland in West Africa.     

HOW REVOLUTIONARY IS THE “NERICA REVOLUTION”? EVIDENCE FROM UGANDA

A new high‐yielding upland rice variety known as New Rice for Africa (NERICA) has been widely recognized as a promising technology for addressing the food shortage in sub‐Saharan Africa. However, there has been no on‐farm yield data to support this optimism. The present study attempts to assess the actual and potential yield of NERICA in Uganda where it has been introduced recently. We found that NERICA's yield is higher (2.5 tons) for farmers who had rice‐growing experience than those who had no previous experience (1.7 tons). These findings strongly indicate that strengthening training, extension, and other supporting systems is the key to the success of the “NERICA revolution” in this country.     

Sustainable natural resource use in rural China: Recent trends and policies

In this paper we provide an overview of recent trends in the availability and quality of land and water resources in rural China, and examine the common presumption that rural resources are rapidly degrading in China. Data based on consistent definitions and measurement methods that have recently become available are used to that end. In addition, we analyse the impact of new policy initiatives to introduce market-based instruments and new institutions to address land degradation and water scarcity problems.We find that the decline in cultivated area has accelerated in the beginning of the new century. Ecological recovery programs, not urbanization and industrialization, are the major factors causing this decline. Ecological recovery programs are also a major force behind the increase in forest land area and the reduction of water erosion. Modest successes can be observed in the protection of wetlands and (until the mid-1980s) for the average quality of cultivated land. On the other hand, degradation of natural grassland and wind erosion have become much more severe in recent decades.In northern China, particularly in the 3-H (Hai and Luan, Huai and Huang) river basins, the availability of water has tightened. Groundwater tables have fallen considerably in the Hai river basin, because farmers increasingly rely on groundwater for irrigation. Evidence on other parts of northern China is mixed. Pollution of surface water is getting worse since the beginning of the 1990s in two major lakes in southern China and until recently in the rivers in northern China. Water quality problems in the larger rivers in southern China are less severe and getting less. These problems are to a large extent caused by agriculture-based non-point source pollution, especially in the major lakes and reservoirs.The sloping land conversion program, water pricing, and the establishment of water user associations and payments for environmental service projects are used as cases to examine the introduction of market-based instruments and new institutions. We argue that less government interference in the implementation of these instruments and institutions is likely to enhance ecological as well the economic benefits. Moreover, supportive measures to improve the functioning of land and labor markets are usually needed to ensure the sustainability of the impact of interventions.     

The Effect of Environmental Risk on the Efficiency of Negotiated Transfer Prices

This study investigates whether environmental risk affects the efficiency of negotiated transfer prices. We analyze a setting where the buyer faces environmental risk but the seller does not. From the risk‐neutral firm's perspective, the transfer should be made in our setting because the expected value of the buyer's profit is greater than the certain opportunity cost of the seller from the transfer. We develop hypotheses to predict that, as environmental risk increases, it becomes more difficult for buyers and sellers to reach agreement. Such difficulty reduces efficiency in terms of both firm profit and negotiation time. We test our hypotheses via an experiment in which buyer and seller dyads negotiate over the transfer of a resource at six levels of environmental risk. Results show that, as predicted, environmental risk decreases efficiency. Specifically, as environmental risk increases, the frequency of agreement decreases, thereby reducing expected firm profit. Further, environmental risk increases negotiation time for those dyads that are able to reach an agreement. Data suggest that the cause of the decreased efficiency is that buyers and sellers use different reference points for determining a fair transfer price and environmental risk exacerbates the effects of such differences.     

Backyard Hog Production Efficiency: Evidence from the Philippines*

This article investigates the economic efficiency and the factors associated with efficiency for a sample of 126 hog producers in the Philippines. The input‐oriented efficiency indices are computed and bootstrapped using data envelopment analysis. Econometric analysis of the factors influencing the efficiency indices are conducted using the Tobit model. Fixed capital does not influence the efficiency scores, whereas labor does negatively influence the efficiency indices. On average, technical efficiency is low, an indication that most households are not using the most efficient technology. Scale efficiency is fairly high but constrained by lack of operating capital and managerial skills. Technical efficiency is constrained by lack of access to credit and limited experience in hog production.     

浅层地下水监测井快速成井工艺试验

地下水监测井是进行地下水各项参数监测的重要途径。随着监测技术的发展,对于成井井管直径的要求越来越小,但是受常规成井工艺的制约。为保障填砾止水工序顺利实施,井管与井壁之间间隙需求较大,使得监测井井径依然较大,而且常规成井工艺工序烦琐、效率低,对地下水填砾止水分层的精细化、准确度较差。依据地下水监测井的目的和特点,通过试验与分析对常规成井工艺进行优化,采用预制滤水管体和止水管体替代填入砾料和止水材料的流程,简化成井工艺,同时满足小口径成井需求,可有效提高钻进效率,降低施工成本,精细准确地进行滤水段和止水段分层,并分析了优化后成井工艺的可靠性,为优质高效地建设浅层地下水监测井提供技术支撑。     

What are the Determinants of Large‐scale Farming in China?

The Chinese Government has increased its focus on expanding farm scale to promote agricultural development since 2010. A series of favorable polices has been adopted to support large‐scale farming. Using a multivariate probit model and 2015 and 2016 rural household survey data, the present paper examines the factors that influence small farmers' decision to become large‐scale farmers. The empirical regression results suggest that the decision to become a large‐scale farmer is significantly influenced by household human capital, cooperative membership, marketing channels, land‐transfer contracts and government policies. However, the influence of these factors differs with respect to becoming large‐scale grain and non‐grain farmers. These results imply that policy tools should target these factors and the appropriate group of small‐scale farmers. Generally, both central and local governments should promote large‐scale farming by enhancing rural households' human capital, improving marketing channels and providing agricultural social services, as well as encouraging returning migrant workers to engage in large‐scale farming.     

Productivity growth, technological progress, and efficiency change in chinese agriculture after rural economic reforms: A DEA approach

This study applies a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to analyze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Chinese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty-nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist (1953) productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change index. The results show that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories during the 1984–1993 period. Technical progress was mostly attributed to Chinese agricultural productivity growth after the rural economic reforms. The deterioration in technical efficiency in many provinces indicates China has great potential to increase productivity through improved technical efficiency. Enhancing rural education and research and development (R&D) in agriculture may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and productivity in agricultural production.     

Comparing the technical efficiency of farms benefiting from different agricultural interventions in Kenya's drylands

Farmers in Kenya's drylands have difficulty accessing farm production resources and in consequence farm productivity is low. It is therefore important to find strategies for improving access to these scarce resources to help farmers use them efficiently. This paper analyses and compares the technical efficiency of five groups of small farms affected by five different agricultural interventions. The aim of the study was to identify intervention strategies that significantly improve farm efficiency. Data envelopment analysis was used to compute farm-level average technical efficiencies for each of the intervention groups. The results showed that average technical efficiency was highest for the farms that had participated in an irrigation intervention. The findings suggest that the strategies promoted by this intervention, such as access to irrigation, inputs and markets, have the most significant effect on farm efficiency.     

Public utility pricing and regional development in South Africa

The paper considers the effects of public utility pricing in respect of (i) the rail transport of goods, (ii) electricity supply and (iii) irrigation water in the pursuit of economic efficiency and regional development, both of which represent objectives of economic policy in South Africa. It appears that public utility prices deviate significantly from the resource costs of the respective services supplied and generally tend to have greater impact on economic efficiency than on regional development. Moreover, it may well be the case that the South African economy has not yet reached an unequivocal trade‐off state between economic efficiency and regional equity. It is therefore suggested that public utility pricing be directed at achieving a more efficient pattern of resource allocation, while regional development be promoted by measures to stimulate internal and external economies of scale.     

The futures premium and rice market efficiency in prewar Japan

This article studies the interrelation between spot and futures prices in the two major rice markets in prewar Japan from the perspective of market efficiency. Applying a non‐Bayesian time‐varying model approach to the fundamental equation for spot returns and the futures premium, we detect when efficiency reductions in the two major rice markets occurred. We also examine how government interventions affected the rice markets in Japan, which colonized Taiwan and Korea before the Second World War, and argue that the function of rice futures markets crucially depended on the differences in the structure of rice spot markets. Initially the increased volume of imported rice of a different variety from domestic rice disrupted the rice futures markets. Then, government intervention in the rice futures markets failed to improve the disruption. Changes in colonial rice cropping successfully mitigated the disruption, and colonial rice was promoted in order to unify the different varieties of inland and colonial rice.     

Productivity Growth in Different Plant‐size Groups in the Malaysian Manufacturing Sector*

In the present study, we develop a stochastic frontier production model that allows for different groups of firms to have different patterns of technical efficiency over time. We apply our model to the Malaysian manufacturing sector to decompose total factor productivity growth into technical efficiency change and technical progress for different plant size groups (e.g. large and small) in seven industries during 2000–2004. Our empirical results indicate that technical efficiency has worsened across all industries and plant‐size groups. In contrast, we find evidence of substantial technical progress in all industries. In fact, technical progress has been larger than technical efficiency deterioration in most industries and plant‐size groups, leading to total factor productivity growth. Our analysis identifies the industries and plant‐size groups that lag the most in terms of productivity, and thus have the greatest scope for policies that facilitate productivity growth.