Farm environment, farmer knowledge and technical efficiency: An investigation among upland corn farmers in Bukidnon, Philippines

TR Number
Date
2001
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Watkinsville, GA: SANREM CRSP
Abstract

Using a panel data (1994-1999) of upland corn farmers' production and soil conservation practices, this paper investigates the influence of farmers' technical and ecological knowledge on their technical efficiency (TE). TE was derived from two types of translog production frontiers where the first equation did not include environmental factors as independent variables and the second did. In the first function, it was assumed that the farms faced the same environment thus, it measures production efficiency as influenced by both management and environment. In the second function, farms are assumed to face different environmental conditions, thus, measuring the technical efficiency due to crop management alone. The difference between the two efficiency measures of farms would then account for the influence of environmental factors.

Description
Keywords
Integrated crop management, Soil degradation, Soil erosion, Soil conservation, Best management practices, Soil fertility, Sustainable agriculture, Ecoagriculture, Farmer technical knowledge, Farmer ecological knowledge, Technical efficiency, Corn production, Crop management, Soil conservation index (scindex), Upland agriculture, Bukidnon, Agro-ecological knowledge, Ecozone (ecoz), Farm/Enterprise Scale
Citation
Paper presented at the SANREM CRSP Research Scientific Synthesis Conference, Athens, GA, 28-30 November 2001