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The research follows neo-classical methodology to analyse the trends of the agricultural efficiency. The paper fits the stochastic production frontier to the micro data describing the performance of the Lithuanian family farms during 2004–2009 in order to define the current trends of efficiency and productivity in the sector. Indeed, this is the first application of stochastic frontiers to gauge the performance of Lithuanian family farms. The technical efficiency of the Lithuanian family farms fluctuated around 80%. The analysis confirmed that the livestock farms were peculiar with higher mean technical efficiency if compared to that of mixed or crop farms. The estimated partial output elasticities imply that the intermediate consumption was the most productive factor, whereas assets were four to six times less productive depending on the farming type. The land factor was peculiar with the lowest partial output elasticities. The research contributes to the wider discussion on the patterns of efficiency and productivity in a transition European Union Member States following the accession.

The research follows neo-classical methodology to analyse the trends of the agricultural efficiency. The paper fits the stochastic production frontier to the micro data describing the performance of the Lithuanian family farms during 2004–2009 in order to define the current trends of efficiency and productivity in the sector. Indeed, this is the first application of stochastic frontiers to gauge the performance of Lithuanian family farms. The technical efficiency of the Lithuanian family farms fluctuated around 80%. The analysis confirmed that the livestock farms were peculiar with higher mean technical efficiency if compared to that of mixed or crop farms. The estimated partial output elasticities imply that the intermediate consumption was the most productive factor, whereas assets were four to six times less productive depending on the farming type. The land factor was peculiar with the lowest partial output elasticities. The research contributes to the wider discussion on the patterns of efficiency and productivity in a transition European Union Member States following the accession.

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This study investigated the economic efficiency of pig production in Ogbomoso zone, agricultural zone in Oyo State, Nigeria, between June and October 2009 using stochastic production frontier approach. A multistage sampling technique was employed in the selection; Ogbomoso North and South Local Government Areas were purposively selected because of the larger population of pig farmers and structured questionnaires were used to collect data from randomly chosen one hundred and ten (110) pig farmers. Descriptive statistics, cost benefit analysis and stochastic frontier production function were used for analyzing the data. It was revealed from the findings that mean benefit cost ratio for pig production was 2.82, this means that the enterprise is profitable. The result of the Cobb- Douglass stochastic production frontier function also showed that stocking cost, cost of feed and cost of labour had positive significant effects on the production output, the estimated gamma parameter (γ) was 0.780 and highly significant at 99% (0.01). Sex, age and household size had negative significant effects on economic inefficiency. The sum of elasticity was 1.191, indicating a positive increasing return to scale in the study area which might lead to over utilization of inputs in terms of excess spending on inputs. Although, the pig farmers were found to be operating on the frontier and were generally economically efficient, higher improvement could still be achieved through easy accessibility to institutional credit, pens expansion, improved breeding stocks and provision of technical assistance.

The agriculture sector plays a crucial role in the overall
development of the country. The sector shares about 24 percent of the
GDP and employs about 44 percent of the workforce in the country. Crops
sub-sector is the major contributor towards agriculture, sharing more
than 53 percent of the value-added. Wheat, being the staple food of
Pakistanis, carries immense importance: it contributes about 12 percent
of sector value-added, is sown on about 37 percent of the total cropped
area, and shares 80 percent in consumption of food grains, while its
share in food grain production is around 70 percent. As primary diet,
wheat alone shares about 50 percent of the total calories' and proteins
intake in Pakistan, and contributes about 8 percent of the total fat
consumed [FAO (Various Issues]. Consequently, overall dietary well being
of our people especially the urban and rural poor is largely dependent
on the performance of wheat economy.

The economic policy reform in respect of Indian cement industry, during the early 80's, resulted in a phenomenal growth of this sector. Cement industry being highly energy intensive in nature, further development of this industry, without increasing pressure on energy demand, would require growth in productivity. Thus, aim of this paper is to estimate Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in Indian cement industry as growth in TFP could ensure growth of this sector which is less dependent on energy and other inputs. Applying Stochastic Frontier Approach, the study first estimates TFP growth and then decomposes it into its components for the period 1989-90 to 2006-07. Empirical results show that the industry has experienced TFP growth during the study period and this growth is driven mainly by scale component and technical progress and not by technical efficiency change as technical efficiency has come out to be time invariant in this context. In the light of empirical results, the policy implication is that an industrial policy of exploiting the existing economies of scale is required to be implemented; and to boost the growth of this sector, priority should be given to enhance firms' capability of catching-up by adopting efficiency oriented action plans.

The main objective of this study is to estimate the input
elasticities of production for poor and non-poor farms. The study
estimates the stochastic frontier production function. The results show
that the elasticities of production differ for poor and non-poor farms.
The production elasticity of land is substantially higher on rich farms
as compared to the farms belonging to poor farmers. This implies higher
returns on investment on land by the rich farmers. The salinity/sodicity
problem and the tail-end location of the plot adversely affect farm
productivity and efficiency, particularly at the poor farms. Moreover,
the average cost of the existence of technical inefficiencies is about
43 percent in terms of loss in output, with wide variations across farms
ranging from 17 percent to 62 percent. The study further concludes that
the least efficient group is not only operating far below the frontier
but it also operates at the lower portion of the production frontier.
Consequently, increasing access to the inputs would likely raise
productivity and reduce poverty. The results imply that the land
distribution using the notion of land reforms in favour of poor/small
farmers in the presence of existing farm structure, rural
infrastructure, and the weak farm-supporting institutions is not
expected to raise farm productivity and reduce poverty among the poor
farmers. The results call for a strong and active role of the government
in close partnership with the private sector to initiate
income-generating activities and inputs supply chains in the rural areas
to break the nexus of poverty, land degradation, and low agricultural
productivity.

"Die Arbeit zeigt die Effekte der Antwortverweigerung in Umfragen auf die Ergebnisse von Produktivitätsschätzungen auf Basis multivariater statistischer Methoden. Um die fehlenden Daten geeignet zu ergänzen, wird ein Data Augmentation Algorithmus basierend auf einem Normalverteilungs-/ Wishart-Modell angewandt. Zur Schätzung der Produktivität von Betrieben werden die Daten der Befragungswellen von 2000 und 2001 des IAB-Betriebspanels verwendet. Dieser Beitrag fokussiert auf die Konstruktions-, Edit- und Transformationsprozesse, die notwendig sind, um die für das Analyse- als auch Imputations-Modell benötigten Variablen zu operationalisieren. Es wird gezeigt, dass Standardverfahren der multiplen Imputation verwendet werden können, um komplexe ökonometrische Modelle mit umfangreichen Paneldatensätzen unter Berücksichtigung des Datenausfalls zu schätzen. Die Grundlage der empirischen Analyse sind stochastische Frontierfunktionen mit den Inputfaktoren Arbeit und Kapital. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass ein Modell technischer Ineffizienz die Daten besser abbildet als die Verwendung von unterschiedlichen Produktionsfunktionen für Ost- und Westdeutschland. Darüber hinaus zeigt sich, dass der Einfluss der Region auf die technische Ineffizienz ansteigt, wenn die mehrfach ergänzten Daten anstelle nur der vollständigen Daten verwendet werden. Diese Ergebnisse könnten weitere Arbeiten stimulieren und möglicherweise die zukünftige Wirtschafts- und Regionalpolitik in Deutschland beeinflussen." (Autorenreferat)

Applying a Stochastic Production Frontier to sector-level data within manufacturing sector in India, this paper examines Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth during 1979-80 to 1997-98. The analysis focuses on the trend of technical progress (TP) and Technical Efficiency Change (TEC). The empirical result suggests that the TFP growth in a large number of industries have improved during 1997-98 compared to 1980-81. TFP growth is mainly driven by TP not by TEC in case of Indian economy since the coefficient of TEC is negative. In the light of empirical results, the policy implication is that the priority to boost economic growth should be in the enhancement of productivity based catching-up capability. In this direction, an efficiency oriented action plan aimed to improve productivity efficiency of manufacturing sectors is required to be implemented for removing the fiscal and financial constraints faced by the enterprises which are located in industrially backward areas.

The study analyzed the Technical Efficiency (TE) of poultry egg production in Ogbomoso metropolis of Oyo state, Nigeria from a sample of 60 poultry farmers selected from two Local Government Area in Oyo state. Stochastic parametric technique was used to analyse the technical efficiency of poultry farmers. Estimated technical efficiency of the poultry egg farmers ranged from 18.3% to 92.7% with a mean technical efficiency of 66%. The variation in the level of technical efficiency indicates that more opportunities exist for poultry egg farmers to increase their egg productivity and income through improvements in their technical efficiency. Determinants of technical efficiency of poultry egg farmers were found to be credit accessibility, education level, farming experience, flock size, extension contact and farmers' associations membership, since all these variables were found to be positive and significantly related to technical efficiency.