R. Widanage, Catherine Chan, Y. Tsang, B. Sipes, H. Melakeberhan, A. Sánchez-Pérez, Alfredo Mejía-Coroy
{"title":"提高技术效率和经济福利:以危地马拉西部高地小农马铃薯种植为例","authors":"R. Widanage, Catherine Chan, Y. Tsang, B. Sipes, H. Melakeberhan, A. Sánchez-Pérez, Alfredo Mejía-Coroy","doi":"10.3280/ecag2022oa13227","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Smallholder farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala grow potatoes for subsistence and as a cash crop but their current productivity is 29% lower than the world average. The objective of this study is to provide policy recommendations for improving potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency in smallholder potato farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. In doing so, this study examines the determinants of potato productivity and identifies the sources of technical inefficiency in smallholder potato farming. In addition, the study evaluates the economic welfare impact of potato farm operations and provides policy recommendations for increasing smallholder potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency. Stochastic production frontier analysis showed that on average farmers are at 57% efficiency. Hence, there is a considerable room for improving efficiency in potato farming. The sources of inefficiency of the farmers were determined to be caused by higher elevation, smaller farm size, and location of the farms. Welfare gains from reaching potential efficiency is US$ 8.79 million in terms of producer surplus per year in Guatemala. Hence, this study provides valuable information for policy makers and farmers for improving technical efficiency and producer surplus. Likewise, providing better conservation practices by extension will ameliorate the low productivity associated with higher elevation and locations that are lower in technical efficiency.","PeriodicalId":37333,"journal":{"name":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Enhancing Technical Efficiency and Economic Welfare: A Case Study of Smallholder Potato Farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala\",\"authors\":\"R. Widanage, Catherine Chan, Y. Tsang, B. Sipes, H. Melakeberhan, A. Sánchez-Pérez, Alfredo Mejía-Coroy\",\"doi\":\"10.3280/ecag2022oa13227\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Smallholder farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala grow potatoes for subsistence and as a cash crop but their current productivity is 29% lower than the world average. The objective of this study is to provide policy recommendations for improving potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency in smallholder potato farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. In doing so, this study examines the determinants of potato productivity and identifies the sources of technical inefficiency in smallholder potato farming. In addition, the study evaluates the economic welfare impact of potato farm operations and provides policy recommendations for increasing smallholder potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency. Stochastic production frontier analysis showed that on average farmers are at 57% efficiency. Hence, there is a considerable room for improving efficiency in potato farming. The sources of inefficiency of the farmers were determined to be caused by higher elevation, smaller farm size, and location of the farms. Welfare gains from reaching potential efficiency is US$ 8.79 million in terms of producer surplus per year in Guatemala. Hence, this study provides valuable information for policy makers and farmers for improving technical efficiency and producer surplus. Likewise, providing better conservation practices by extension will ameliorate the low productivity associated with higher elevation and locations that are lower in technical efficiency.\",\"PeriodicalId\":37333,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Economia Agro-Alimentare\",\"volume\":\"39 1\",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-06-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"1\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Economia Agro-Alimentare\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2022oa13227\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"Social Sciences\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economia Agro-Alimentare","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3280/ecag2022oa13227","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
Enhancing Technical Efficiency and Economic Welfare: A Case Study of Smallholder Potato Farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
Smallholder farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala grow potatoes for subsistence and as a cash crop but their current productivity is 29% lower than the world average. The objective of this study is to provide policy recommendations for improving potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency in smallholder potato farming in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. In doing so, this study examines the determinants of potato productivity and identifies the sources of technical inefficiency in smallholder potato farming. In addition, the study evaluates the economic welfare impact of potato farm operations and provides policy recommendations for increasing smallholder potato productivity through enhancing technical efficiency. Stochastic production frontier analysis showed that on average farmers are at 57% efficiency. Hence, there is a considerable room for improving efficiency in potato farming. The sources of inefficiency of the farmers were determined to be caused by higher elevation, smaller farm size, and location of the farms. Welfare gains from reaching potential efficiency is US$ 8.79 million in terms of producer surplus per year in Guatemala. Hence, this study provides valuable information for policy makers and farmers for improving technical efficiency and producer surplus. Likewise, providing better conservation practices by extension will ameliorate the low productivity associated with higher elevation and locations that are lower in technical efficiency.
期刊介绍:
Economia agro-alimentare/Food Economy is a triannual peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Franco Angeli Edizioni on behalf of the Italian Society of Agri-food Economics (SIEA), founded in 1996 by the then President of SIEA Fausto Cantarelli. It offers an international forum for the discussion and analysis of mono and interdisciplinary socio-economic, political, legal and technical issues, related to agricultural and food systems. It welcomes submissions of original papers focusing on agriculture, food, natural resources, safety, nutrition and health, including all processes and infrastructure involved in providing food to populations; as well as the processes, inputs and outputs involved in consumption and disposal of food and food-related items. Analyses also include social, political, economic and environmental contexts and human resource challenges. Submissions should be addressed to an international audience of researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, and they may consider local, national, or global scales.