scholarly journals Does Fertilizer Education Program Increase the Technical Efficiency of Chemical Fertilizer Use? Evidence from Wheat Production in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pingping Wang ◽  
Wendong Zhang ◽  
Minghao Li ◽  
Yijun Han
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Nutrient Runoff ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Wheat Production ◽  
The Impact

Farmers in China and many other developing countries suffer from low technical efficiency of chemical fertilizer use, which leads to excessive nutrient runoff and other environmental problems. A major cause of the low efficiency is lack of science-based information and recommendations for nutrient application. In response, the Chinese government launched an ambitious nationwide program called the “Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation Project” (STFRP) in 2005 to increase the efficiency of chemical fertilizer use. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of this program. Using data from a nationally representative household survey, and using wheat as an example, this paper first quantifies the technical efficiency of chemical fertilizer use (TEFU) by conducting stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), then evaluates the impact of STFRP on the TEFU using a generalized difference-in-difference approach. We found that STFRP, on average, increased TEFU in wheat production by about 4%, which was robust across various robustness checks. The lessons learned from STFRP will be valuable for China’s future outreach efforts, as well as for other countries considering similar nutrient management policies.

scholarly journals Spatial Dependence Evaluation of Agricultural Technical Efficiency—Based on the Stochastic Frontier and Spatial Econometric Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2708
Author(s):  
Ziqi Yin ◽  
Jianzhai Wu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Spatial Dependence ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Hebei Province ◽  
Agricultural Technology ◽  
Agricultural Product ◽  
Spatial Econometric ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, through the implementation of a series of policies, such as the delimitation of major grain producing areas and the construction of advantageous and characteristic agricultural product areas, the spatial distribution of agriculture in China has changed significantly; however, research on the impact of such changes on the efficiency of agricultural technology is still lacking. Taking 11 cities in Hebei Province as the research object, this study examines the spatial dependence of regional agricultural technical efficiency using the stochastic frontier analysis and spatial econometric analysis. The results show that the improvement in agricultural technical efficiency is evident in all cities in Hebei Province from 2008 to 2017, but there is scope for further improvement. Industrial agglomeration has statistical significance in improving the efficiency of agricultural technology. Further, there is an obvious spatial correlation and difference in agricultural technical efficiency. Optimizing the spatial distribution of agricultural production, promoting the innovation, development, and application of agricultural technology, and promoting the expansion of regional elements can contribute to improving agricultural technical efficiency.

scholarly journals Characterizing the Spatial Patterns of Global Fertilizer Application and Manure Production

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Potter ◽  
Navin Ramankutty ◽  
Elena M. Bennett ◽  
Simon D. Donner
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
National Level ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Nutrient Runoff ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Agriculture has had a tremendous impact on soil nutrients around the world. In some regions, soil nutrients are depleted because of low initial soil fertility or excessive nutrient removals through intense land use relative to nutrient additions. In other regions, application of chemical fertilizers and manure has led to an accumulation of nutrients and subsequent water quality problems. Understanding the current level and spatial patterns of fertilizer and manure inputs would greatly improve the ability to identify areas that might be sensitive to aquatic eutrophication or to nutrient depletion. The authors calculated spatially explicit fertilizer inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) by fusing national-level statistics on fertilizer use with global maps of harvested area for 175 crops. They also calculated spatially explicit manure inputs of N and P by fusing global maps of animal density and international data on manure production and nutrient content. Significantly higher application rates were found for both fertilizers and manures in the Northern Hemisphere, with maxima centered on areas with intensive cropland and high densities of livestock. Furthermore, nutrient use is confined to a few major hot spots, with approximately 10% of the treated land receiving over 50% of the use of both fertilizers and manures. The authors’ new spatial disaggregation of the rich International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) fertilizer-use dataset will provide new and interesting avenues to explore the impact of anthropogenic activity on ecosystems at the global scale and may also have implications for policies designed to improve soil quality or reduce nutrient runoff.

scholarly journals The impact of land fragmentation on farmer's chemical fertilizer use efficiency

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 2687
Author(s):  
SHI Chang-liang ◽  
ZHANG Yi ◽  
GUO Yan ◽  
ZHU Jun-feng
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Fertilizer Use Efficiency ◽  
Land Fragmentation ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
The Impact

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (No. 10) ◽  
pp. 445-453
Author(s):  
Tamara Rudinskaya ◽  
Tomas Hlavsa ◽  
Martin Hruska
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Agricultural Area ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Identification System ◽  
Accounting Data ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
The Impact

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.

The ripple effect of credit accessibility on the technical efficiency of maize farmers in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Siaw ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ◽  
Wonder Agbenyo ◽  
Gideon Ntim-Amo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Agricultural Credit ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Variable Approach ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of access to credit on technical efficiency (TE) of maize farmers in a developing country, Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed an instrumental variable approach and the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method for the estimation of the results.FindingsThe study found that farmers who have access to agricultural credit stand the chance of increasing TE by a margin of 8%, which also influences the maize production than those who did not have access to credit. The average TE score of the farmers was 74%. The study also found out that factors like membership, gender, farmers' access to credit, age and social network determine farmers' possibility of accessing agricultural credit. The study finds out that returns to size are increasing among the maize farmers and that significant improvement in efficiency can be realized by increasing the level of input used in production. Also, factors such as farm size, labor, seeds and fertilizer are the essential determinants of maize production output. Also, gender, extension, age, off-farm income, access to credit and membership were significant factors influencing technical inefficiency (TI).Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the existing literature on agricultural credit on rural agricultural development. The problem of endogeneity associated with access to credit, which has been considered by other researchers, is dealt with this study. This paper also provides information to government policymakers, practitioners and all other stakeholders in the maize sub-sectors and also will benefit small farmers outside the study area.

Short supply chain participation, and agrochemicals' use intensity and efficiency: evidence from vegetable farms in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoheng Zhang ◽  
Xiaohua Yu
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Production Values

PurposeOveruse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is a major policy concern for many countries. Chinese government has adopted many technologies and management practices to reduce their use. However, little is known about the effects of social-economic method such as short supply chain (SSC) participation. SSC is an important organizational innovation in fresh food supply chains aiming at directly connecting farmers and consumers. Closer relationships between farmers and consumers may result in production behavioral changes. Thus the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of SSC participation on agrochemicals application.Design/methodology/approachBased on the household level data collected from Jiangsu province in China, this paper employs an instrumental variable (IV) method to address the self-selection bias when we evaluate the effects of SSC participation on use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. In addition, this paper also distinguishes between growth inputs and facilitating inputs in the production function when we calculate the marginal production values of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.FindingsThe empirical results show that SSC participation significantly reduces chemical fertilizer use by 351 kg and pesticides costs by 1659 Yuan (RMB) per hectare, accounting for 43.4% of the average chemical fertilizer use and 49.4% of the average pesticide costs, respectively for Chinese vegetable farms. However, SSC participation still cannot improve the use efficiency of agrochemicals.Originality/valueThis paper uses both application quantities and allocation efficiencies of chemical fertilizer and pesticides to comprehensively evaluate the effects of SSC participations. The results will reveal the core role of SSC played in promoting sustainable development of Chinese agricultural sector dominated by small-scale farmers.

scholarly journals Aging of Agricultural Labor Force and Technical Efficiency in Tea Production: Evidence from Meitan County, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Liu ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Ruifa Hu ◽  
Xiaoke Zhu ◽  
Jinyang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Southwestern China ◽  
Agricultural Labor ◽  
Mountainous Areas ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Tea Production ◽  
The Impact

While the aging of agricultural labor force and its impact on agricultural production have been attracting extensive attention, little is known about the relationship between aging of agricultural labor force and technical efficiency in tea production. Using the stochastic frontier analysis and cross-sectional survey data covering 241 tea-producing farmers in Meitan County in China, this study attempts to investigate the impact of aging of tea-producing farmers on technical efficiency in tea production in the mountainous areas of southwestern China. The results show that the average technical efficiency in tea production is 0.581, implying a great room for improving technical efficiency in tea production in Meitan County. While there might exist an inverted U-shaped relationship between farmers’ age and technical efficiency, the aging of tea-producing farmers would exert negative impact on technical efficiency in tea production. In addition, rural–urban migration experience, number of household laborers, distance from home to village committee, and township location are also significantly related with technical efficiency. The findings in this study are proved to be robust. Hence, several policy implications for meeting the challenges from aging of agricultural labor force and improving technical efficiency in tea production in the mountainous areas of southwestern China are also discussed.

The impact of microfinance services on the efficiency of family farms in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alim Belek ◽  
Abega Ngono Jean Marie
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Tobit Model ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Family Farms ◽  
Agricultural Credit ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Socio Economic Factors

PurposeDoes MFIs agricultural credit influence the determinants of the efficiency of SFF which are socio-economic factors of the farmers but also agricultural endowments of family farms? This paper aims to study the contribution of MFI services on improving the technical efficiency of SFFs in Cameroon.Design/methodology/approachThe stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model permits the estimation of the technical efficiency indicators for beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries of agricultural credits on a sample of 130 cocoa farming households and four MFIs of the same area between 2008 and 2011. The censored tobit model is used to assess the determinants of technical efficiency.FindingsThe results show that the SFF beneficiaries of agricultural credit have an average technical efficiency of 0.68 inferior to that of nonbeneficiaries (0.72) as expected. They are, respectively, at 0.32 and 0.28 of their full productive capacities. The results of the censored Tobit model show that socioeconomic characteristics of the producer such as age and gender explain negatively, while experience explains positively the technical efficiency of SFFs.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough without any selectivity bias, this study indicates the essential character of the socioeconomic factors in the amplification of the role of the MFIs credit on the efficiency of SFFs.Practical implicationsStrategies to improve the efficiency of SFFs require an increase in MFI credits, primarily targeting young, experienced and female farmers.Originality/valueThis study examines the efficiency of SFFs by highlighting the interaction between the socio-economic factors of farmers and the credit of MFIs. It also points to the problem of monitoring the implementation of agricultural financing.

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