The Impact of Agricultural Reforms on Tajikistan’s Cotton Production Efficiency

This empirical study examines the impact of agricultural reforms on the cotton sector of Tajikistan. It investigates the level and determinants of technical efficiency for a sample of cotton growing regions in Tajikistan. Using unbalanced panel data of 11-years covering the transition period 1992-2002, 34 cotton-producing regions are analysed with a translog stochastic production frontier, including a model for regional-specific technical inefficiencies. The output elasticities, returns to scale, and indices of convergence are also examined. They reveal that the technical inefficiency effects are found to be highly significant in indicating the ranges and variation in regional outputs. The results show that reforms had a significant positive impact on technical efficiency of cotton production, which, in turn, has a substantial contribution to the process of economic development of Tajikistan.