Soil conservation and technical efficiency among hillside farmers in Central America: a switching regression model *Daniel Solis (), Boris E. Bravo-Ureta and Ricardo E. Quiroga Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2007, vol. 51, issue 4, pages 491-510 Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to evaluate and analyse technical efficiency (TE) levels for hillside farmers under different levels of adoption of soil conservation in El Salvador and Honduras. A switching regression model is implemented to examine potential selectivity bias for high and low level adopters, and separate stochastic production frontiers, corrected for selectivity bias, are estimated for each group. The main results indicate that households with above-average adoption show statistically higher average TE than those with lower adoption. Households with higher adoption have smaller farms and display the highest partial output elasticity for land. Constraints in the land and credit markets are likely explanations for these differences. In addition, all estimated models show that TE has a positive and significant association with education and extension. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc . Downloads: (external link) Related works: Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics is edited by Tom Kompas, Jeff Bennett and Quentin Grafton More articles in Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics from Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd. |
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