Technical efficiency of the zaragoza bean cultivation in two areas of the Caribbean region of Colombia

Abstract

The pink zaragoza bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a very important species in the dry Caribbean region of Colombia, mainly in the departments of Cesar and La Guajira, because it is a fundamental part of the diet of its inhabitants. In recent years, exploratory studies have been carried out to characterize the production system and the generation of new materials. However, there is no evidence of research on the technical efficiency of this production system. For this reason, the aim of this study was to analyze its technical efficiency, based on information obtained from a structured survey applied to 32 farmers with experience in the crop, selected by simple random sampling. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency were calculated. For the technical efficiency analysis, a Cobb-Douglas type econometric model was designed. Aspects such as the rationality of the producer when allocating resources were identified, a technical inefficiency corresponding to 0.67 was estimated, which shows that there is underutilization of resources such as seed and fertilizer, which are applied without prior soil analysis and without taking into account the requirements of the crop.

Keywords

• economies of scale
• inputs
• production
• productivity
• technological productivity
• yields