The paper investigates the impact of subsidies and of para-agriculture on the technical efficiency of organic farms in Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany. The data-set consists of bookkeeping data with 1,704 observations in the years 2003 to 2005. Technical efficiency is modelled using a...

Supermarkets and high-value exports are currently gaining ground in the agri-food systems of many developing countries. While recent research has analyzed income effects in the small farm sector, impacts on farming efficiency have hardly been studied. Using a survey of Kenyan vegetable growers...

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it compares the performance of various panel data models in estimating technical efficiency in production. Second, it applies various stochastic frontier panel data models to estimate the technical efficiency of Iran's cotton production and to...

Supermarkets are gaining ground in the agri-food systems of many developing countries. While recent research has analyzed income effects in the small farm sector, impacts on productivity and efficiency have hardly been studied. We use a meta-frontier approach and combine this with propensity...

Improved seed is one of the crucial ingredients for promoting agricultural productivity, farmers’ livelihood, and global food security. The present study uses an endogenous treatment regression model (ETRM) to evaluate the impacts of improved seed maize technology (ISMT) adoption on technical...

Agricultural inputs are peculiar in nature as an asymmetry in their roles can be identified during the production process. These inputs can be grouped into a set of growth inputs or a set of facilitating inputs. The inputs affecting biological or physiological growth from the inside of the plant...

This study investigates the Indonesian cocoa production to reveal the possibilities for poverty alleviation while considering the threats to environmental sustainability. We estimate, based on a large household panel data set and stochastic frontier analysis, the technical efficiency of cocoa...

Existing studies of agricultural production largely neglect technology heterogeneity. However, the assumption of homogeneous production may result in inadequate policy implications. There is a growing literature on this issue. In this paper we contribute to this literature by modelling the...

Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), this paper centered on analysing the impact of Crop Diversification (CD) on farm level technical efficiency in Afghanistan. Data from a household level survey conducted in 2013-2004 by the Central Statistic Organization (CSO) is used in the analysis. The...

Increasing food demand will most likely be met with agricultural intensification and land clearing, exacerbating environmental consequences associated with food supply. The mechanisms and trade-offs between agriculture and the environment are heterogeneous and not well understood, yet key to...