Estimation of technical efficiency of Czech farms operating in less favoured areas

Abstract

This paper deals with the technical efficiency analysis of farms in the Czech Republic. The empirical analysis provides an evaluation of technical efficiency with regard to the farm size, farm specialisation, and farm location. Accounting data of Czech farms from the Albertina database for the years 2011-2015 were used for the analysis. The data were classified by the utilised agricultural area and location of the farm expressed as a less favoured area type from the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) database. Research was conducted using the translogarithmic production function and Stochastic Frontier Analysis. The results indicate positive impact of farm size, expressed by utilised agricultural area, on technical efficiency. The analysis of the impact of farm specialisation on technical efficiency verified that farms specialised on animal production are more efficient. The lowest technical efficiency is shown by farms situated in mountainous Less Favoured Areas (LFAs), the highest technical efficiency by farms located in non-LFA regions.

Keywords

• agriculture
• less favoured areas (lfa)
• specialisation
• stochastic frontier analysis
• technical efficiency