Vol. 74 No. 1 (2019)
Saggi e Ricerche

Technical efficiency and farm size: an analysis based on the Brazilian agriculture and livestock census

PDF
Editorial History
  • Carlos Otavio de Freitas,
  • Erly Cardoso Teixeira,
  • Marcelo Jose Braga,
  • Amanda Massaneira de Souza Schuntzemberger
Carlos Otavio de Freitas
Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Erly Cardoso Teixeira
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil
Marcelo Jose Braga
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil
Amanda Massaneira de Souza Schuntzemberger
Universidade Estadual de Londrina
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13128/REA-25478

Published 2019-06-15

Keywords

  • farm size,
  • agriculture and livestock,
  • stochastic frontier,
  • technical efficiency

How to Cite

de Freitas, C. O., Teixeira, E. C., Braga, M. J., & Schuntzemberger, A. M. de S. (2019). Technical efficiency and farm size: an analysis based on the Brazilian agriculture and livestock census. Italian Review of Agricultural Economics (REA), 74(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.13128/REA-25478
Copyright Notice

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between technical efficiency and farm size, considering different classes of area and efficiency levels in Brazil. Stochastic Frontier Production was used to obtain the technical efficiency and the Quantile Regression was used to identify their determinants. Microdata from the 2006 Brazilian Agriculture Census were used. It was found a positive and non-linear relationship between farm size and efficiency in all area classes. However, the more efficient the producers, the weaker the relationship, which indicates that such producers were less dependent on the land factor. In addition, irrigation, technical assistance and cooperatives membership were the factors which contributed most to increasing efficiency, especially for the less efficient producers.

PDF
Editorial History

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...