TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES’ AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Nadia Belhaj Hassine

Region et Developpement, 2007, vol. 25, 27-44

Abstract: This paper aims to estimate the technical efficiency of the agricultural sector in a group of Mediterranean countries involved in the process of global market liberalization. The analysis applies the stochastic production frontier model to a set of six different crop products. For each product, a panel data set covering the period 1990-2005 in fourteen Mediterranean countries is used and separate econometric results are obtained. Then cross-sectional country information is used, in the second stage, to assess the main factors contributing to technical inefficiencies and to explain efficiency differentials among Mediterranean countries. The empirical results revealed the presence of important inefficiencies in Mediterranean agricultural production with significant diversities across countries and crops. EU countries on average appear to have higher technical efficiency levels than SMC, among which some states such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan display substantial misallocation of resources. The results indicate that there exists scope for increasing crop production up to 50% in some regions through expanding irrigated areas, encouraging the mechanisation of the farmers and combating the land fragmentation.

Keywords: TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY; AGRICULTURE; FRONTIER PRODUCTION FUNCTION (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 F12 F13 L15 Q17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Technical efficiency in the mediterranean countries' agricultural sector (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tou:journl:v:25:y:2007:p:27-44

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