Search

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the input- and output-specific technical inefficiency of Vietnamese prawn-rice rotational crops (PRRC) and to identify the impacts of the socio-economic characteristics of farmers and farms on these technical inefficiencies.Design/methodology/approachThis study first used a Russell-type (input-output) directional distance function to estimate the input- and output-specific technical inefficiency. Second, it applied a bootstrap truncated regression to analyze the factors influencing these technical inefficiencies. Data were gathered through a survey among 94 farmers, from Ben Tre and Kien Giang provinces, the two popular PRRC areas in the Mekong Delta.FindingsResults show that Vietnamese PRRC farmers could reduce the water surface area by 3%, the use of seedlings by 15%, labor by 16%, fertilizers by 26%, and the use of others by 24%, while simultaneously increasing the revenue of farming system by 57% relative to the variable returns to scale (VRS) frontier. Farmers with more years of experience are generally better in managing the use of seedlings and in improvement of revenue. Farmers in Kien Giang province are more efficient in achieving revenue of the PRRC farming system than farmers in Ben Tre province.Research limitations/implicationsOutcomes of this study are useful to identify strategies in minimizing the use of inputs while simultaneously maximizing PRRC production.Originality/valueThis paper relates to the comparison of two mostly different ecological zones, being the dominant production areas of PRRC, in which, Kien Giang represents the western part, while Ben Tre is in the eastern part of the Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The findings not only expand the current understanding but also suggest various meaningful research questions regarding the development of Vietnamese PRRC under the impacts of climate change. The study also contributes to the literature on examining the input- and output-specific technical inefficiencies and influencing factors.

Price transmission in international supply chains is important to ensure that price premiums paid by consumers for environmental sustainability labels are transmitted upstream to farmers. This facilitates investment in sustainable aquaculture systems. This study analyzes the price transmission from the international retail stage to the Vietnamese farm, focusing on frozen pangasius fillets. We used monthly nominal prices at farm and export stages in Vietnam, and at wholesale and retail stages in Poland for the period from August 2010 to December 2014. Price signals at the Polish retail stage were found to transmit back to the wholesale, export, and farm stages. Moreover, price transmission from wholesale to export and from export to farm is characterized by both short- and long-run symmetries. In the short run, retailers tend to transmit only wholesale price increases to their customers and wholesalers transmit only retail price increases to exporters. A long-run relationship between retailers and wholesalers is absent, thereby reducing the ability of chain actors to respond to all market signals, including downward changes. Given the delay in price transmission in the short run, the introduction of business-to-business electronic trading or auction markets might reduce this delay along the retail, wholesale, export, and farm stages. To enhance the long-run price relationship in the wholesale-retail market, more retailers should enter the pangasius market. The transmission of price changes from Polish markets back to Vietnamese pangasius farmers is a positive signal for farmers to invest in sustainable production methods, as consumer price premiums likely flow back to the farm.