Examining the effects of climate change adaptation on technical efficiency of rice production

This study examined the impact of eight climate change adaptation practices on technical efficiency (TE) among 843 rice farmers in Central China. Data were collected across ten counties in Hubei province in 2019. Given that spatial dependency is present in social and economic systems, we accounted for the spatial autocorrelation of TE. We estimated both a one-step nonspatial stochastic frontier model and a spatial stochastic frontier model. We verified that spatial spillovers were present in the TE of rice farmers, suggesting that the nonspatial stochastic frontier model underestimated TE. Results showed that adopting climate change adaptation strategies significantly affected TE. These effects, however, varied in directionality by the different adaptation measures evaluated in this study. Overall, adjusting preparation dates, improving irrigation systems, and increasing cultivated areas positively affected TE at 1%, 0.1%, and 5% significance levels. In contrast, the coefficients for both using flood-tolerant rice varieties and adjusting sowing dates were negative and significant at 5% and 10% significant levels. Interestingly, the effects of using high-yield rice varieties and adjusting fertilizer use were not significant. Finally, this study did not find any evidence that adaptation intensity affected the TE of rice production. Based on these results, we discussed implications for future climate-smart agriculture programs addressing the adverse effects of climate change on agricultural production in China.