Soil conservation practices and production efficiency of smallholder farms in Central China

Zhihai Yang (), Amin Mugera (), Ning Yin and Yumeng Wang
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Zhihai Yang: Huazhong Agricultural University
Ning Yin: Huazhong Agricultural University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2018, vol. 20, issue 4, No 5, 1517-1533

Abstract: Abstract The aim of this paper is to evaluate and analyze the impact of adoption of soil conservation practices (SCPs) on the technical efficiency of smallholder rice producers in Central China. We address self-selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity problems by estimating a switching regression model for the adoption decision function and separate stochastic production frontiers for SCP and Conventional farms while allowing for production inefficiency. SCP farms exhibit statistically higher average technical efficiency than Conventional farms. Education, extension services, membership in cooperatives, access to credit, and alternative income sources are positively and significantly associated with technical efficiency for both groups. Conventional farms display higher partial output elasticity for land, while only SCP farms show significant elasticity for capital.

Keywords: Soil conservation practices; Stochastic frontiers; Switching regression; Technical efficiency; Central China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-017-9951-7

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