Aging of Agricultural Labor Force and Technical Efficiency in Tea Production: Evidence from Meitan County, China

Jian Liu, Chao Zhang (), Ruifa Hu, Xiaoke Zhu and Jinyang Cai
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Jian Liu: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Ruifa Hu: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Xiaoke Zhu: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Jinyang Cai: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: While the aging of agricultural labor force and its impact on agricultural production have been attracting extensive attention, little is known about the relationship between aging of agricultural labor force and technical efficiency in tea production. Using the stochastic frontier analysis and cross-sectional survey data covering 241 tea-producing farmers in Meitan County in China, this study attempts to investigate the impact of aging of tea-producing farmers on technical efficiency in tea production in the mountainous areas of southwestern China. The results show that the average technical efficiency in tea production is 0.581, implying a great room for improving technical efficiency in tea production in Meitan County. While there might exist an inverted U-shaped relationship between farmers’ age and technical efficiency, the aging of tea-producing farmers would exert negative impact on technical efficiency in tea production. In addition, rural–urban migration experience, number of household laborers, distance from home to village committee, and township location are also significantly related with technical efficiency. The findings in this study are proved to be robust. Hence, several policy implications for meeting the challenges from aging of agricultural labor force and improving technical efficiency in tea production in the mountainous areas of southwestern China are also discussed.

Keywords: aging; agricultural labor force; technical efficiency; stochastic frontier analysis; tea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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