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With the continuous development of China’s marine economy and the increasing pollution in marine-related industries, how to implement a sustainable development strategy in the marine economy has become an important issue. Under the stochastic frontier analysis framework, this paper measures the technical efficiency of the marine economy in 11 coastal provinces in China under carbon emission constraints from 2006 to 2016 and analyzes regional differences and the dynamic evolution of technical efficiency and its influencing factors. Panel unit root test is applied to analyze the stochastic convergence of technical efficiency of the inter-regional marine economy. The result shows that: in the reference period, the technical efficiency of the marine economy is on the rise. Guangdong and Shanghai are in the lead. Technical level and industrial structure have a positive impact on technical efficiency, while the structure of property rights, FDI, energy prices, and energy structure have a negative effect on it. On the whole, the changes in the technical efficiency of coastal provinces present a process from concentration to differentiation. There is a stochastic convergence between the Pan-Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta. Raising the technological level, promoting low-carbon production in the marine industry, and strengthening inter-regional cooperation have a certain effect on the improvement of the technical efficiency of the marine economy.

A strong construction industry is critical to any country’s economic and infrastructural development. Facing declining business prospects in the domestic market, Taiwanese construction firms have sought new opportunities overseas, particularly in the mainland Chinese market. Without an adequate understanding of the market, making such investments involves significant risks. To better understand the differences in the markets, this study investigates the technical efficiency (TE) of the Taiwanese construction industry compared to mainland China. The focus was on TE values of construction companies across the two markets as well as the strengths and weaknesses to help inform the decision-making process. The TE evaluation was completed using the stochastic frontier approach (SFA) with a subinput efficiency model to evaluate three inputs (assets, costs, and labor) of 123 construction companies with 59 companies in mainland China and 64 companies in Taiwan. Results show that for the key asset investment factors in Taiwan’s construction industry, TE is lower than that in mainland China. However, Taiwan’s construction industry was found to have higher labor efficiency than mainland China. Relative to mainland Chinese companies, Taiwanese companies have advantages in both labor inputs and revenue outputs but are disadvantaged in terms of the firm and market size. This study shows that Taiwanese construction firms are positioned to pursue expansion into mainland China, ideally by establishing cooperative alliances. Results also show that government policy needs to ensure construction companies are supported by increased economic freedom and reduced restrictions, as these positively correlate with the revenue of local construction companies.

For an industry to succeed in a competitive market, it should continuously take care of not only its stakeholders but also its technical efficiency and productivity. In this paper, data envelopment analysis was combined with Malmquist productivity analysis to investigate the pattern of multifactor productivity changes in the European energy industry over the period from 2005–2016. The results showed that the whole industry was technically inefficient and had large potential for improvement. A slight average increase in productivity that was observed over the studied period proved to be sensitive to the financial and economic situation and equally sensitive to technological and efficiency advances. As for efficiency gains, they reflected the nature of the energy industry, implying that they were due to scale efficiencies rather than human resource improvements. Although technological innovation and the optimal scale of production increased productivity, the slow pace at which this occurred and the negative outlook highlighted by the observed trends call for more serious consideration of the future productivity deployment of the European energy industry, particularly in the context of its decarbonisation, diversification, and modernisation.

An ecological shift has populated Engraulicypris sardella as a livelihood and economic drive among fishers in Malawi. However, the paucity of biological information regarding E. sardella limits the effective monitoring and sustainable management of the fishery. This has created a heavily invested fishery in terms of the effort put into fishing, but it is poorly managed. Moreover, the current production capacity from the fishery has a negligible impact on lessening the shortfall of the national fish demand, indicating its underperformance. Therefore, the productive efficiency of Lake Malawi Chilimira fishers in exploiting E. sardella was analysed. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample 355 Chilimira fishers between July and October 2021. Results from the translog stochastic frontier model revealed that Chilimira fishers had an overall mean technical efficiency of 60% that ranged between 21% and 92%. This indicates that Chilimira fishers are 40% technically inefficient in exploiting E. sardella. The fishing inputs of bunt area, light emitting diode (LED) bulbs, and mesh size significantly contributed to technical efficiency, whereas boat size, fishing depth, number of hauls, and mosquito net lining significantly reduced the technical inefficiency. On average, the Chilimira fishery is operating with increasing returns to scale with bunt area, the quantity of fuel (litres), and the number of LED bulbs having positive input–output elasticity. This means that new developments in the fishery, including LED bulbs, increased bunt area, and boat size, are key factors that will improve fishing efficiency for sustainable fishery exploitation. In contrast, illegal fishing units of small bunt mesh size and mosquito net lining at the bunt threaten the sustainability of the fishery. It is, therefore, important that relevant stakeholders put policy measures in place that promote sustainable fishing effort approaches in exploiting the virgin offshore fishery to maximise catch.

This research investigates the efficiency of pineapple production in Malaysia using the stochastic frontier model with flexible risk features and a sample of 290 pineapple farms by smallholders in Johor. The results of the study indicate that the trans log model is the best match for the mean output function, while input factors, such as sucker, fertilizer, agrochemicals, labor, and hormones, have a positive effect on pineapple yield with rising returns to scale. The study also finds that fertilizers and hormones are risk increasing inputs, whilst sucker is classified as a risk decreasing input. The total farm-specific characteristics account for the difference in the mean technical efficiency, which is estimated to be 68.1%. The study shows that, on average, 31.9 percent of the potential output is wasted owing to technical inefficiency and production risks in inputs. However, the optimal production of pineapple is facilitated by the application of the best agricultural techniques.

Based on panel data for the inputs and outputs of the three major staple grains (rice, wheat and corn) in China from 2000 to 2020, we calculated the cost efficiency using the stochastic frontier cost function model and examined the effects of cost changes for the three major grains to explore the sources of cost increases for grain production. On this basis, the impact of the input factor structures on the technical efficiency of the three food grains was further analyzed under the conditions of price increases. We found that the labor prices and production costs showed the same trends of changes. Compared to 2000, the labor prices in 2020 increased 7.33-fold and the technical efficiency values for the three grains were all close to 0.9 (0.8689, 0.8912 and 0.8451). An efficiency decomposition showed that the adjustment effect of labor prices was the main factor in cost increases, but the effects of technological progress and efficiency improvement could effectively reduce the costs of grain production (the largest average value for technological progress was for rice at 0.4569). In comparison, the effects of technological progress on cost reduction were more obvious. By analyzing the influence of input factor structures on technical efficiency, it was found that the influence of different input factor structures on technical efficiency was heterogeneous among the different grains. This paper puts forward the following policy recommendations: first, improve the level of mechanization by developing social services to reduce the dependence on labor; secondly, promote the construction of agricultural informatization, such as accelerating the research and development of intelligent agricultural machinery and promoting the transformation of traditional agriculture to intelligent agriculture; finally, promote the marketization of land element price through land trusteeship to reduce the land transfer price.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether agribusiness could be competitive compared to non-agribusiness employment opportunities in terms of technical efficiency and profitability. We used data collected on all seven operating cassava community processing centers (CCPCs) and 150 comparable non-agribusiness enterprises in South Kivu province. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), as well as cost–benefit ratios and net monthly revenue, were used to examine technical efficiency and profitability. Our results showed that agribusiness was more competitive than non-agribusiness in terms of technical efficiency and profitability. The cost–benefit ratio shows that every dollar invested in agribusiness earns investors US $2.8, while it earns investors in non-agribusiness US $2.1. Moreover, technical efficiency increases significantly with agribusiness. These results show that agribusiness can compete with other non-agribusiness activities, and it remains a solution to youth unemployment in the region.

Forestry output efficiency is key to forestry development. China is now promoting the development of forestry, and thus the research on forestry output efficiency is of practical significance. Through the data envelopment analysis (DEA)-Malmquist index, spatial autocorrelation model, and fixed effect model of panel data, in this study, we analyzed the forestry output efficiency of China with indicators, such as the fixed asset input, employed personnel, total output value, and timber output, and drew the following conclusions. In the time series, the forestry total-factor productivity (TFP) in China saw a rapid increase, which is attributed to the technological progress change (TC), whereas the efficiency change (EC) imposed negative influences upon the forestry TFP. In the spatial distribution, there was a difference in the increase in the forestry output efficiency among the eastern, central, and western regions of China, with the eastern region having the fastest growth and the central region having the slowest growth. According to the spatial autocorrelation, there was spatial aggregation (high–high (HH) and low–low (LL)) with a significant positive correlation. Through the optimized fixed effect regression model, the fixed asset input, employed personnel, total output value, and timber output all had significant influences on the comprehensive technical efficiency of the forestry output, wherein the input indicators had negative influences, and the output indicators had positive influences.

The paper provides findings on the technical efficiency of the European dairy processing industry, which is one of the most important subsectors of the food processing industry in the European Union (EU). The ability to efficiently use inputs in the production of outputs is a prerequisite for the sustainability and competitiveness of the agri-food sector as well as for food security. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide a robust estimate of technical efficiency by employing new advances in productivity and efficiency analysis, and to investigate the efficiency of input use in 10 selected European countries. The analysis is based on two-stage stochastic frontier modelling incorporating country-specific input distance function (IDF) estimates and a meta-frontier input distance function estimate, both in specification of the four-component model, which currently represents the most advanced approach to technical efficiency analysis. To provide a robust estimate of these models, the paper employs methods that control for the potential endogeneity of netputs in the multistep estimation procedure. The results, based on the Amadeus dataset, reveal that companies manufacturing dairy products greatly exploited their production possibilities in 2006–2018. The dairy processing industry in the analysed countries cannot generally be characterized by a considerable waste of resources. The potential cost reduction is estimated at 4–8%, evaluated on the country samples mean. The overall technical inefficiency (OTE) is mainly a result of short-term shocks and unsystematic failures. However, the meta-frontier estimates also reveal a certain degree of systematic failure, e.g., permanent managerial failures and structural problems in European dairy processing industry. The results presented in this paper were obtained within the VALUMICS project "Understanding Food Value Chain and Network Dynamics", funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 727243.

The study of environmental sustainability in the aviation industry mainly focuses on research targeting specific regions such as the United States, Europe, and China. However, for the environmental sustainability of the aviation industry, global airlines on all continents around the world must implement efficient environmental management. This study divides the world into six continents and attempts to verify environmental efficiency for airlines belonging to each continent. Using data from 2014 to 2018 of 31 global airlines, this study compares environmental efficiency in the aviation industry by continent and individual airline. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is actively used in efficiency studies was adopted as an analysis method. We find that, first, airlines in Europe and Russia have the highest environmental efficiency, and airlines in North America and Canada are the second highest, which can be a good benchmark for other airlines. Second, in technical efficiency (TE) values, airlines in Africa and the Middle East and Latin America generally have low efficiency, but, in the airlines in Africa and the Middle East, environmental efficiency is steadily improving slightly. In comparison, airlines in Latin America showed a decrease in environmental efficiency value, requiring a lot of effort and investment to improve efficiency. Third, for airlines in North America and Canada, the scale efficiency (SE) value was the lowest, even though there was a high level of overall environmental efficiency, indicating the need for efficiency improvement through economies of scale. This study has implications, in that, it suggests how airlines can perform efficient environmental management for sustainability according to the continent to which they belong.

In developing countries, irrigation can help to decrease poverty in rural areas through increased employment in the agricultural sector. Evidence shows that irrigation may increase farm productivity and technical efficiency. In this paper, we estimate the effect of irrigation on farm technical efficiency in Brazil using the 2006 Agricultural Census dataset on more than 4 million farms. We estimate a stochastic production frontier at farm level, considering potential selection bias in irrigation adoption. We find that farms using irrigation are on average 2.51% more technically efficient compared to rain-fed farms. Our findings also suggest that while small farms are more efficient than medium and large farms, the largest difference in technical efficiency between rain-fed and irrigated farms is among large farms. Our results indicate that policies that seek to support expansion of irrigation adoption has also the potential to achieve greater rural development given the estimated effects estimated in this paper among very small and small farms, which are more than 70% of the farms in Brazil.

Reasonable evaluation of the intensive urban land use has emerged as an important issue and hot topic for urban development. This paper aims to construct a unified framework for evaluating the intensive use of urban land and analyzing its influence channels. It combines the advantages of the approach of the indicator system and that of efficiency measurement, and provides an empirical test to apply this analytical framework using the panel data of 38 districts and counties in Chongqing, China, ranging from 2009 to 2018. To achieve our goals, we used the panel data model and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model with decomposed technical inefficiency. Our results show that: (1) the level of intensive use of urban land in all districts and counties of Chongqing is steadily increasing, and the gap among regions is narrowing, (2) all districts and counties of Chongqing face severe and increasing difficulty in improving their intensive urban land use, and, (3) currently, the degree of external dependence is not a stable influential factor for land-use efficiency and intensive potential in these districts and counties, and improving the land use structure, increasing population density, strengthening fiscal expenditure on education, and promoting transportation convenience can markedly reduce land use inefficiency and simultaneously increase intensive land use. In conclusion, the framework for evaluating intensive use of urban land based on the SFA model with decomposed technical inefficiency can better integrate intensive land-use evaluation and the factor analysis process, and retain the scalability of factor analysis. For all districts and counties in Chongqing, we clarify several effective channels to promote the intensive use of urban land, which provides reference and technical support for formulating land policies.

The energy consumption pattern and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of any rice production system is important to know the sustainability of varied cultivation and establishment technique. This study was conducted to determine the energy use pattern, GHG emission and efficiency of rice farms in puddled transplanted (PTR, rainfed) and direct-seeded rice (DSR, irrigated) production systems in Karnataka, India. The energy indices and GHG emission of different input and output in a rice production system were assessed by using energy and carbon equivalence. The efficiency of PTR and DSR farms were identified using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and energy optimization was ascertained. The key finding was excessive use of non-renewable energy inputs was observed for the PTR (92.4%) compare to DSR (60.3%) methods. The higher energy use efficiency (7.3), energy productivity (0.3 kg MJ&minus, 1) and energy profitability (6.3) were mainly attributed to the large decrease in energy inputs under DSR. The DEA showed efficiency for 26 PTR farms in comparison for 87 DSR farms. The mean technical efficiency value highlighted the scope for saving energy by 6% and 2% in PTR and DSR, respectively and showed an economic reduction of $405.5/ ha with PTR versus $163.3/ha with the DSR method if these inefficient farms perform efficiently. The GHG emissions revealed that the total emissions for PTR versus DSR production caused by on-farm emissions were 86% and 65%, respectively. The DSR method also had a higher carbon efficiency ratio and carbon sustainability index (10.1 and 9.1, respectively). Thus, adoption of DSR method is imperative for reduction of energy consumption and GHG emissions to achieve the carbon sustainability.

Gender-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are receiving increasing attention from all stakeholders, as the commitment to achieving equal opportunities for women has become a top priority. However, the reality is that women remain under-represented at the most senior corporate level, and there is a lack of knowledge about many of the implications this situation entails. This study aimed to provide the first analysis of the direct effect and the indirect effect (through leverage) of board gender diversity on business efficiency. The stochastic frontier approach was used to estimate efficiency. Possible determinants were studied using a fixed effects model with instrumental variables to correct for endogeneity problems. A sample of 91 Spanish listed companies was selected. Data were gathered for the period 2004 to 2015. This period is of great interest because it spans two different contexts in terms of gender legislation. The key findings are that promoting gender diversity is important to boost efficiency and that it is vital to consider possible indirect effects such as the role of leverage.

This research was conducted to explore the factors affecting the technical efficiency (TE) of rice producers and its determinants at the farm level. We used a multi-stage sampling procedure to collect cross-sectional data from 800 rice growers in the Uttar Pradesh state of India, and a stochastic frontier model (SFA) was applied. The results showed that the mean technical efficiency was 72%, suggesting scope for a substantial increment in rice productivity exists while using the current level of inputs and technologies. Furthermore, the MLE results revealed that labor, irrigation, and hybrid seeds had a constructive impact on technical efficiency, while experience and tenure status showed a negative impact on technical efficiency. As unraveled by the results of the study, it can be concluded that the technical efficiency of rice farmers can be improved through timely access to credit and agricultural information delivered to them via extension services. The study, therefore, recommends that the government provide subsidized agrochemicals and focus on developing a robust network of extension services throughout the local districts for proper dissemination of inputs. About 12% of India’s rice is produced in the Uttar Pradesh state. So, this study could be an essential tool for the agriculture sector, which could help to solve rice productivity problems for future generations.

Improving technical efficiency (TE) is crucial for the sustainable growth of smallholder agriculture in developing countries. While there has been a large literature investigating the determinants of smallholders’ agricultural technical efficiency, little is known about the effect of e-commerce on agriculture and crop production efficiency despite the growing importance of rural e-commerce in developing countries. This study, therefore, bridges the research gap by examining the impact of e-commerce adoption on TE using household survey data of wheat farmers in China. We employ the combination of propensity score matching (PSM) and a selectivity-corrected stochastic production frontier model to address the possible selection biases stemming from both observable and unobservable factors. We found that e-commerce adoption would lead to a 2.75 per cent increase in the technical efficiency of wheat production. Our study also complements the existing research of rural e-commerce, which mainly focuses on the benefits of e-commerce from the perspective of market opportunity and farmers’ welfare.

This paper analyzes the impact of a Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) on the Technical Efficiency (TE) of smallholder groundnut farmers in the context of climate change in India. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to study the TE of smallholder farmers, which range between 0.58 and 1, with a mean of 0.79. Using the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique, we find that the TE of smallholder farmers improves when they participate in a WBCIS using three matching methods. Increasing the coverage of farmers under a WBCIS can help in reducing smallholder farmers vulnerability to climate change.

There is an “export productivity paradox” in Chinese enterprises, which has been confirmed in agricultural enterprises. This paper attempts to explain this phenomenon from the perspective of the components of TFP. This paper uses the SFA-Malmquist method to decompose and compare the TFP of China’s agricultural export enterprises based on the data of the state-level leading agricultural enterprises from 2016 to 2017. The conclusions are as follows: firstly, China’s agricultural TFP shows a negative growth trend, and the growth rate of TFP of agricultural export enterprises is less than that of agricultural non-exported enterprises, secondly, the growth rate of TFP of grain and animal husbandry export enterprises is less than that of non-export enterprises, the growth rate of TFP of private agricultural export enterprises is lower than that of non-export enterprises of the same type, the growth rate of TFP of export enterprises in eastern and western regions is lower than that of non-export enterprises, and thirdly, technical progress is an important reason for the change of TFP of China’s agricultural enterprises. However, compared with agricultural non-exported enterprises, improving the technical efficiency of enterprises can more promote the TFP of agricultural export enterprises.

An industrial system has positive and negative strategies to adapt to environmental regulations, which can be defined as natural disposability and managerial disposability. Meanwhile, the operational process of an industrial system can be divided into regular production activities and pollutant control activities. Within this, industrial system&rsquo, s technical efficiency (TE) can be decomposed into economic efficiency (ECE) and environmental efficiency (ENE). On the basis of natural disposability and managerial disposability, this paper proposes static and dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to evaluate the efficiencies of industrial systems. Based on the proposed approach, TE, ECE, ENE, and Malmqusit productivity index (MPI) values were obtained simultaneously. The MPI values were further separated into the effects of static efficiency change and technical change. The proposed method was applied to assess the technical efficiencies of Chinese regional industrial systems between 2011 and 2015. Key findings are that (1) the low ENE is the main source of technical inefficiency, (2) the average static TE and ENE under natural disposability are both lower than those under managerial disposability, (3) the static efficiency change and technical change of TE are similar to those of ENE, and (4) the technical change has a significant impact on the changes in TE.

(1) Background: Even though agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, the improvements made regarding crop productivity appeared insufficient and had slow progress. Several studies suggest possible ways to identify the challenges in the productivity of the crop sub-sector. Nevertheless, there are gaps in the empirical literature in both knowledge and methods. The current study intends to identify the factors that affect growth in the productivity of teff, maize, barley, wheat, and sorghum crops. (2) Methods: Cobb-Douglass stochastic production function is estimated using a panel data set of the Living Standard Measurement Survey. To address the objectives of the study, a parametric estimation with a time-varying decay model with deterministic and stochastic components was adopted. (3) Results and Discussion: The effect of inputs on aggregate output was positive and significant at the 1% significance level, implying the presence of economies of scale. Variation in the inefficiency term explained 46.4% of the total variance in the composed error term. The average productivity of major crops was 6.19 per year. This study implied that technical change in the production of major crops increased by 22% with better use of available technology. (4) Conclusions and Policy Implication: The findings pinpoint that farmers should focus on technical change and intensification of improved agricultural inputs.

The impact of agricultural cooperatives on apple farmers&rsquo, technical efficiency (TE) in China was examined. The cooperatives were divided into two groups: a collective marketing group for farmers and an equivalent non-marketing group that did not provide a marketing service, although other functions remained the same. Using the propensity score matching (PSM) procedure and stochastic production frontier (SPF) modelling, cooperatives&rsquo, key functions that potentially increase farmers&rsquo, TE can be identified. The results indicate that membership of either group is positively related to yield. However, cooperatives that were not engaged in marketing achieved higher TE than non-members. This suggests that policy makers should encourage cooperatives to focus on activities that do not include direct marketing to increase TE in apple production in China.

The development of agricultural services was the most important change in China’s agricultural production in the past 20 years. Using nationally representative provincial-level panel data, this study shows that agricultural service has a positive impact on technical efficiency at a significance level of 0.06. Based on this study, if the share of agricultural service cost increases by 1%, technical efficiency will increase by 0.35%. In other words, this study provides an empirical explanation of the positive impact of agricultural service on productivity. Due to the heterogeneity of agricultural service, technical efficiency in Eastern China and major grain production regions is higher than that in other regions. Finally, this study confirms the convergence of technical change in China’s grain production.

Pakistan is an agrarian economy confronting both risk and uncertainty. Rural migration to urban and off-farm work is increasing in the country. Off-farm work assists in decreasing risk and uncertainty while technical efficiency is linked with off-farm employment. This research effort aims at investigating the underpinnings of production characteristics, risk, and efficiency across categories of rice farmers, i.e., with and without off-farm work, by developing two stochastic frontier models. Empirical results reveal that both groups of farmers are using inputs in different ways, subsequently production varies across these groups. Farmers in both the categories have common characteristics in terms of production function. Coefficient of family size is positively significant to the group of farmers having off-farm work while negatively associated to their counterparts. High temperature and prevalence of disease found risk increasing factors. Though one group is more efficient, in general both groups are technically inefficient. The short-term policy focus should be diverted to ensuring availability and timely application of inputs to enhance efficiency. In the long run, policy initiatives need to be taken towards rural development by providing employment facilitating social and economic infrastructure, along with focus on Research and Development (R&amp, D) particularly keeping the rice belt in view.

Agriculture is an important engine for economic growth and a vigorous driver of poverty reduction in developing countries. In Pakistan, rice production is one of the most essential sectors. However, it has been underperforming, largely because of low women&rsquo, s participation, which is often a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy. Unfortunately, previous studies have seldom recognized and emphasized the role of women in triggering agricultural and rural development. We address this research gap using 300 farm households&rsquo, survey data forms collected from Pakistan farmers by applying the stochastic frontier analysis. The results indicate that women&rsquo, s participation is associated with higher labor/land ratio, land productivity, and finally improved technical efficiency. Precisely, women&rsquo, s participation increased technical efficiency (TE) by 47.3%. Interestingly, in view of previous studies, this evidence is not sporadic. Overall, our study provides some evidence to promote women&rsquo, s participation in rice production, as such empowerment of women holds great potential to enhance agricultural production, which is consistent with the aim of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The implementation of new agricultural technologies has become a driving force for cleaner production on smallholder farms. Particularly, identifying technologies could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production, both of which are serious challenges. In this context, evaluating the adoption of certified seed and its impact on efficiency gains and waste reduction is highly fundamental for sustainable smallholder food production. This perspective was not always considered in previous studies. We address this research gap using cross-sectional data from wheat farmers in northern Kazakhstan. A multi-stage sampling procedure is employed while the sample-selection stochastic production frontier (SPF) is applied for a robust estimation. Results reveal that increased crop income, access to credit and education positively influence the adoption of certified seed while membership in cooperatives and distance from the market are negative determinants. We also find that adopters are 10.3% &ldquo, cleaner in production&rdquo, than non-adopters. A comparison was made between the conventional SPF and the sample-selection SPF to evaluate the credibility of the estimation. It was found that the estimates from the conventional SPF were biased by 10%. This study provides insights into two policy and scholarly questions, namely, how effective the adoption of certified seeds is in promoting cleaner production among wheat farmers and how it can be promoted among wheat farmers. Therefore, our study presents substantial empirical evidence to encourage investment in or to promote certified seed adoption in wheat production.

Effective agricultural policymaking requires the accurate estimation of the production technology and efficiency of farms. However, several methodological issues should be considered when modelling production and estimating technical efficiency. In this paper, we focus on two of these&mdash, technological heterogeneity and theoretical consistency&mdash, as implied in microeconomic theory. Heterogeneity in the efficiency literature is often evaluated using a variable intercept model. However, in farm production, it is likely that heterogeneity also affects the marginal productivity of production factors. Some earlier papers investigated the effect of unobserved heterogeneity on technical efficiency using latent class models, but the application of random parameter models is limited. One of our main contributions in this paper is that we apply a modified version of a random parameter model to investigate the effect of unobserved heterogeneity on production factors and efficiency. The second aim was to impose regularity conditions into the model through introducing linear and non-linear constraints and thereby investigate their significance. Third, we examined the relationship between unobserved heterogeneity and the natural and economic conditions of farms. Our findings show that heterogeneity has a greater effect on variation in output than technical efficiency, furthermore, the violation of theoretical consistency significantly influences the results. These findings also reveal that the explanatory power of regional natural and economic conditions is significant but not sufficient on the variance of estimated unobserved heterogeneity.

Wheat and wheat products are an important part of the daily diet of Uzbek people, and thus, are under strategic consideration in terms of food security in Uzbekistan since the beginning of independence. In this study, wheat production during agricultural transition is reviewed and determinants of technical efficiency of wheat-cultivating farms in the Samarkand region are analyzed. Analyses are accomplished in two steps. In the initial step, technical efficiency of wheat farms is estimated using data envelopment analyses (DEA) and determenants of inefficiencies are analyzed by the Tobit model in the second step. Data for this study were collected from 124 randomly sampled private farms engaged in wheat production in the Samarkand region. The mean value of technical efficiency scores of wheat-growing farmers were found to be 0.79 and 0.82 under constant return to scale (CRS) and variable return to scale (VRS) assumptions. Empirical results suggest that there is a considerable scope for increasing production through reallocation of existing resources or that private farmers can reduce their input costs by 21 and 18 percent while holding the same production levels. The age of farmers, farmers&rsquo, education on agriculture, soil fertility, and the quality of seeds were found as the main determinants of technical efficiency in the study area.

Government R&amp, D investments are steadily increasing with the perception that R&amp, D plays an important role in technological innovation and sustainable economic growth. In particular, because biotechnology is recognized as one of the next growth engines, the Korean government has recently increased their investment in biotechnology R&amp, D. However, careful analysis of the efficiency of government-sponsored R&amp, D projects is still lacking. In this paper, we measured the technical efficiency and technology gap ratio to investigate the efficiency of Korean government-sponsored R&amp, D projects of 16 sub-biotechnologies from 2007 to 2013 using a metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis approach. There was no improvement in overall efficiency between 2007 and 2013. Biochip development technology has been the most efficient sub-biotechnology field and the least efficient fields have been biotechnology product safety and efficacy assessment technology. Medical science and engineering is the closest to optimal production technology among sub-biotechnologies. The efficiency of universities and government-funded research institutes is high, while the efficiency of companies is relatively low. The results suggest that the government should improve the R&amp, D planning process and establish a customized R&amp, D investment strategy that considers the characteristics of technologies and the seven organization types of R&amp, D conductors to increase R&amp, D efficiency.

This paper analyzes the impacts of financial management and farming practices on the technical efficiency of Sengcu rice growers in Laocai, a mountainous province of Vietnam. The stratified random sampling method was employed to select 170 households representing two typical ecologies, lowland and upland. The structured questionnaire was applied to collect primary data through face-to-face interviews regarding current farming practices in the 2016&ndash, 2017 growing seasons and farm-specific characteristics. The importantly, the study makes recommendations for policy-makers regarding how to manage provision extension, irrigation, and credit services more effectively and for producers regarding how to better manage cash-flows and receive more benefits from public support in order to improve the effectiveness of rice production and make a livelihood while working towards sustainability.

Government R&D investments are steadily increasing with the perception that R&D plays an important role in technological innovation and sustainable economic growth. In particular, because biotechnology is recognized as one of the next growth engines, the Korean government has recently increased their investment in biotechnology R&D. However, careful analysis of the efficiency of government-sponsored R&D projects is still lacking. In this paper, we measured the technical efficiency and technology gap ratio to investigate the efficiency of Korean government-sponsored R&D projects of 16 sub-biotechnologies from 2007 to 2013 using a metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis approach. There was no improvement in overall efficiency between 2007 and 2013. Biochip development technology has been the most efficient sub-biotechnology field and the least efficient fields have been biotechnology product safety and efficacy assessment technology. Medical science and engineering is the closest to optimal production technology among sub-biotechnologies. The efficiency of universities and government-funded research institutes is high, while the efficiency of companies is relatively low. The results suggest that the government should improve the R&D planning process and establish a customized R&D investment strategy that considers the characteristics of technologies and the seven organization types of R&D conductors to increase R&D efficiency.

The successful and sustainable development of inbound tourism necessitates a long-term commitment, balancing between tourism supply and tourist demands. This study manipulated a performance appraisal of tourism service quality in Taiwan with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) by employing input and output constructs to assess service quality efficiency. The empirical results of the estimation of technical efficiency (TE) revealed that (1) the domestic tourism market is competitive, but still needs enhancements for tourism service, (2) Mainland Chinese tourists had the highest score among all foreign tourists, followed by Hong Kong and Macau tourists, tourists from other countries, Japanese tourists, and South Korean tourists, and (3) South Korean tourists had higher travel expenditure than others, but felt less satisfaction with travel services, which can be regarded as inefficient. Tourists from other countries had lower travel expenditure, but had higher satisfaction levels, which was considered efficient based on input and output index. The findings could contribute to bridging the gap between research and practice in assessing the efficiency of inbound tourist service. Tourism practitioners should be aware of tourists&rsquo, needs and interests, as these could be key fundamentals for improving tourists&rsquo, satisfaction with Taiwan&rsquo, s service offerings.

The diversification of farms can be a result of multifunctional farming, however, in some cases at the cost of lower farm efficiency. In our paper we investigate the influence of para-agricultural diversification on productivity and the technical efficiency of organic farms in Austria, Switzerland, and Southern Germany. We show the benefits and drawbacks of diversification for organic farms, which go beyond the core agricultural production (para-agriculture). We do this by estimating a Stochastic Frontier (SF) combined with a metafrontier model. The data-set consists of bookkeeping data with 1704 observations in the years 2003 to 2005. Para-agricultural diversification activities have a significant effect on both productivity and technical efficiency of organic farms: The farm output in Austria and Switzerland is positively influenced by diversification, whereas we observe a rather small effect in Southern Germany. On the other hand, diversification can reduce farms’ technical efficiency, as it is the case in Switzerland and Germany. Furthermore, our study confirms previous results that agricultural subsidies significantly influence the technical efficiency of organic farms. We also show expected changes of input use driven by increased farm diversification.

Erratic rainfall has a detrimental impact on crop productivity but rainfall during the specific growth stage is rarely used in efficiency analysis. This study focuses on this untapped point and examines the influence of rainfall specifically encountered during the sowing stage and early vegetative growth stage and the flowering stage of pulses on productivity and efficiency in Lower Myanmar using data from 182 sample farmers. The results of a stochastic frontier production function reveal that rainfall incidence during the flowering season of pulses has a negatively significant effect on yield while replanting crops after serious damage by rain increases productivity. Controlled rainfall variables, seed rate, human labor and land preparation cost are important parameters influencing pulses yield. In the efficiency model, levels of yield loss have a negative impact while being a male household head, access to government credit, access to training, locating farms in the Bago Region and possessing a large area of pulses have a positively significant effect on technical efficiency. Policy recommendations include the establishment of a safety network, such as crop insurance to protect farmers from losses due to unpredictable weather conditions, promoting training programs on cultural practices adapted to climate change, wide coverage of extension activities, giving priority to small-scale farmers and female farmer participation in training and extension activities and increasing the rate of credit availability to farmers.

When evaluated purely on financial grounds, most developmental interventions targeting the livestock sector exhibit a positive impact. This study also provides empirical evidence that a project which provided loans to livestock producers in Syria succeeded in increasing the annual farm income and reducing the income risk. However, these annual benefits were accompanied by a reduction in technical efficiency which, unabated, may compound over the years and compromise the livestock enterprise’s sustainability. The development lesson from these findings is that misguided interventions with well-known short-term livelihoods benefits could, in the long run, hurt the very sector which they aim to support.

The fishing industry in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), plays an important role in diversifying food sources in order to enhance national food security. The fishing industry is facing an increasing risk that may impact the sustainability ( i.e. , quantity and quality) of the fish caught and consumed in the UAE. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyze common Abu-Dhabi fishing management alternatives using various stochastic dominance techniques ( i.e. , first/second degree stochastic dominance, stochastic dominance with respect to a function and stochastic efficiency with respect to a function) to assess the risk facing UAE fishermen. The techniques represent a risk assessment continuum, which can provide a ranking of management alternatives to improve decision making outcomes and help maintain long-term UAE fishing sustainability. Data for the stochastic dominance analyses were obtained from a cross-sectional survey conducted through face-to-face interviews of Abu Dhabi, UAE, fishermen. Analysis of fishing methods, trap sizes and trap numbers using stochastic efficiency with respect to a function (SERF) showed that fishermen efficient practices were not the same for risk-neutral fishermen compared to risk averse fishermen. Overall, the stochastic dominance results illustrated the importance of considering both attitude towards risk and economic inefficiencies in managing UAE fishery practices and designing successful fishery policies, as well as improving decision-making at the fishermen level.

The photovoltaic (PV) industry in China is still in the early stage of development and is extremely unbalanced, breakthroughs in key technologies are necessary. To achieve high efficiency and sustainable development, it is important to identify the bottleneck of the whole industry chain through the analysis of overall industrial technical efficiency. Based on the current situation of the PV industry, this study builds the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to respectively evaluate the efficiency of PV devices and power generation in the PV industrial chain. The Tobit model is used to conduct an empirical analysis of the factors affecting the efficiency of the PV industry. The results show that the industrial efficiency of PV devices is at a medium level and that it is necessary to strengthen regulation and awareness at the industrial scale. However, the PV power generation industry as a whole is at a low efficiency level, especially the inadequate technical level, which has a negative impact on the improvement of industrial efficiency. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions at the enterprise and government level are put forward to improve the efficiency of the PV industry in China.

Cultural tourism has received widespread attention for its role in promoting cultural heritage and economic growth. However, there is insufficient research regarding how to verify the synergy between culture and tourism and how to ensure its sustainability in the integration of the cultural and tourism industries (CTI). This study establishes an interdisciplinary composite analytical framework from the perspective of efficiency evaluation. China, a country that has advocated the integration of CTI since 2009, is the research setting. The findings indicate that the technical efficiency of the tourism industry has increased significantly since the involvement of the cultural industry. Meanwhile, economically underdeveloped regions have opportunities to catch up with developed regions in terms of technical efficiency, and they perform better in terms of sustainable productivity growth. Importantly, U-shaped and inverted U-shaped curves were found in the coordinate systems composed of groups comprising the coupling coordination degree and the efficiency-related index, respectively. This finding reveals the existence of a running-in effect in the integration process of CTI, thereby contributing to both theory and policy-making.

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&rsquo, age and technical efficiency, the aging of tea-producing farmers would exert negative impact on technical efficiency in tea production. In addition, rural&ndash, 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 key element of the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy is sustainable agriculture where the social, economic, and environmental objectives should be fulfilled. This role can fulfill only those agricultural holdings that are effective in the transformation of inputs to outputs, and which do not waste the inputs. Therefore, we analyze the technical efficiency of the agricultural holdings in the Slovak regions, and try to identify the factors that are able to influence the efficiency of agricultural holdings. We can conclude that there are regional disparities in technical efficiency in Slovakia, however, the problem of inefficiency is not typical only for the agricultural holdings in the areas with natural constraints. These regional disparities should be considered when adopting a new political measure to support sustainable agriculture. By the results of econometric models, we find that the agricultural production diversity, the policy of the labor market, and tax policy are the important factors influencing the technical efficiency of the agricultural holdings in Slovakia.

This paper investigated the determinants, especially labor transformation, and differences of technical efficiency between main and non-main grain-producing area in China based on a panel data from 30 provinces in the period of 2001&ndash, 2017. Stochastic frontier production function was used to estimate the level of technical efficiency and the marginal productivity of different inputs. The estimated results showed that land is the most important factor to improve China&rsquo, s grain output, followed by fertilizers, labor, and machinery inputs. There was a significant 4.6 percent gap of production efficiency between main and non-main producing provinces. Influence of rural labor transformation was confirmed to be positive to improve technical efficiency.

The role of non-government organizations (NGOs) has been commendable in promoting sustainable farming. Through mobilization of existing resources and provision of training to farmers on various agriculture subjects, NGOs could trigger increased productivity and agricultural sustainability. However, empirical evidence on this claim is limited and no study recognizes the supporting conditions required for NGO intervention to improve productivity. Cross-sectional data from hazelnut farmers in Azerbaijan are used to evaluate the role of NGO intervention in improving farmers&rsquo, technical efficiency. To this end, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is applied to study hazelnut farmers&rsquo, production efficiency. Three different measures are employed to estimate NGO intervention: Training, subsidy and, a combination of training and subsidy. The results indicate that NGO intervention is not significant in influencing technical efficiency. This is attributable to the absence of good organization, innovation orientation, accountability and stakeholder involvement and support which are the necessary supporting conditions facilitating an enabling environment for NGO intervention to improve farmers&rsquo, technical efficiency. Therefore, we recommend policy directed at addressing these issues in order to simultaneously enhance farmers&rsquo, productivity and improve the functioning of the NGOs. Beyond NGO intervention, encouraging farmers to specialize in hazelnut production and allocating more suitable land for hazelnut production will also improve farmers&rsquo, technical efficiency significantly.

NGOs and development agencies have a conspicuous presence in facilitating capacity building, access to production resources and markets. Capacity building by NGOs and development agencies is expected to contribute to farm efficiency and sustainability by promoting and enhancing fertilizer use as well as increasing soil fertilities. However, the influence of these factors on technical efficiency as an important dimension of sustainability has not been further explored in Ghana. This study therefore assesses the influence of NGOs on technical efficiency among smallholder soybean farmers by applying stochastic frontier analysis. The data collected from 349 smallholder soybean producers in the three northern regions of Ghana are employed for the analysis. Results show that the mean technical efficiency of soybean production is 0.885, indicating a growth potential of 11.5%. Land area, agro-chemicals and seeds contribute to production growth while labor is over used. We find that NGO facilitation as well as group membership influences technical efficiency. Furthermore, farmers facilitated by NGOs and development agencies are 4.4 p.p. more efficient than non-facilitated farmers. Our study therefore implies that production and efficiency can be improved by providing more services to farmer group members and sustainable interventions from NGOs and social programs.

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence earned income of organic farmers explicitly incorporating farmer decisions to engage in local selling. The stochastic frontier model identifies role model producers who are the most technically efficient in achieving the maximum output that is feasible with a given set of inputs along with farm and demographic factors that enhance efficiency. Organic earnings equations that control for producer and farm characteristics reveal that organic farmers who are involved in local sales achieve lower earnings. Producer involvement in local sales has little impact on observed technical efficiency on organic farms.

The medical care system in China has experienced significant changes during three decades of reform, and thus result in a need to investigate the effects of medical reform. This paper investigates the technical efficiency of Chinese hospitals in 31 provinces during the period from 2002 to 2013 by proposing a new global generalized directional distance function (GGDDF) approach taking account of undesirable output, i.e., mortality. Results show that despite the technical efficiency had being improved with time trend, most Chinese provinces are not performing well on hospitals’ technical efficiency and leave a large potential to improve. Some provinces display better performance compared to other provinces of China. We further investigate the factors that affect the technical efficiency of Chinese hospitals with Tobit models. It concludes that the medical insurance reforms have improved the performance of Chinese hospitals, while public subsidies have decreased it. The provinces with higher GDP per capital and population density, the performance of their hospitals is better. The related policy implications for Northeast Asia are derived, including encouraging the development of private hospitals, enlarging the coverage of medical services, and pursuing different policies for the provinces with higher GDP per capital and population density.

Many rural areas face difficulty in how to motivate farmers to embark on diversified activities, such as tourism, while raising managerial efficiency. Thus, this paper conceptually and empirically evaluated how a farmer’s identity correlates with managerial efficiency since the connection between the two has not been explored fully. We have addressed this issue through examining farmers’ efforts in providing an emerging new educational tourism service by focusing on the Educational Dairy Farms in Japan. Conceptually, this paper classified farmers’ identity into two types: traditional identity as a simple farm producer offering an educational service as a volunteer, and, enlarged identity, which is oriented toward viability of a new service activity. Empirically, data envelopment analysis revealed that those with the enlarged identity realized a higher managerial efficiency although there was much room for improvement in overall managerial efficiency. Consequently, support measures with a wider perspective that include identity issues should be designed for capacity building of farmers who are conducting tourism.

The search for sustainable and practical synthetic methodology with high levels of technical efficiency is a highly topical subject that would contribute to developing recycling economy and saving resources. Green synthetic science has been firmly established and has provided essential design criteria for the development of a sustainable approach to high added value molecules and drug discovery, and the further development of sustainable manufacturing processes of medicines with new optimality principles for economic efficiency. In this study, a green atom economical aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction catalyzed by phosphoric acid immobilized in glycerol has been developed. This protocol provides a sustainable approach for the preparation of pyrrolyl and trifluoromethyl dihydrobenzoxazinones in excellent yields with remarkable features, such as bio-renewable glycerol as a cheap, safe and green solvent, easy product separation and catalytic system recycling under mild conditions. Furthermore, the preliminary biological activity of these products was evaluated in glioma (C6) and melanoma (B16BL6) tumor cell lines by using adriamycin as a positive control with the thiazoyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The result suggests that product 5n shows promising cancer growth inhibition of glioma and melanoma, and is a promising lead compound for further investigation as anti-glioma and anti-melanoma agents.

Insufficient and high variability in rice yield is a threat to food security in China, prompting the need for strategies to mitigate yield variability and increase productivity. This study investigates the presence of production risk and technical inefficiency for a sample of rice farms in the Xiangyang city of China using a stochastic production frontier framework. Results from the risk function reveal that labor and better soil quality have significant risk-reducing effects while machinery exerts a significant risk-increasing effect on rice production. The estimated mean technical efficiency score is 84%, suggesting that, on average, farmers could increase their rice production by 16%, without increasing the existing input levels by improving their management techniques. Factors that significantly affect technical efficiency are the age of farmers, female ratio, access and use of extension services, off-farm income, and the size of cultivated land. Results from this study suggest that yield variability and technical inefficiency in rice production can be reduced by appropriate choice of input combinations and elimination of mistakes in the production process through efficient management practices. Strategies, such as providing better extension services, loosening liquidity constraints facing farmers, and expanding rice farmers’ producing area, would help to achieve minimum inefficiency in production.

This study explores the technical and scale efficiency of two types of Greek fishing vessels, small-scale vessels and bottom trawlers, using a bias-corrected input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis model. Moreover, the associations between efficiency scores and vessel’s and skipper’s characteristics are also explored. The results indicate that small-scale vessels achieve a very low average technical efficiency score (0.42) but a much higher scale efficiency score (0.81). Conversely, bottom trawlers achieve lower scale but higher technical efficiency scores (0.68 and 0.73, respectively). One important finding of this study is that the technical efficiency of small-scale vessels, in contrast to trawlers, is positively associated with the experience of the skipper. In a looser context, it can be said that small-scale fisheries mainly rely on skill, whereas bottom trawlers rely more on technology. This study concludes that there is space for improvement in efficiency, mainly for small-scale vessels, which could allow the achievement of the same level of output by using reduced inputs.