Technical efficiency of hybrid maize production in the Mekong Delta

Abstract

This study attempts to estimate technical efficiency and analyze factors affecting the technical efficiency of hybrid maize farms in the Mekong Delta. The technical efficiency was estimated from the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. The study uses data collected from a survey of 240 farming households in the Mekong River Delta. The estimation results show that the technical efficiency ranges between 48.73 and 97.44% (84.63% on average). The technical efficiency level varies across farms due to the big gap in farming techniques and the ability to choose optimal inputs for each farming household. As a result, the average productivity loss from technical inefficiency was about 0.19 tons per 1,000 square meters in a crop. Key factors found to significantly affect productivity are phosphorus fertilizer, number of family laborers, and the cost of herbicide and fuel. In addition, significant determinants positively related to technical efficiency include regional characteristics, survival ratio of seeds, years of farming experience, number of growing days, number of crops per year and number of crop plots.

Keywords

• hàm sản xuất biên ngẫu nhiên
• hiệu quả ký thuật sản xuất bắp lai