Technical Efficiency And Its Determinants In Wheat Production: Evidence From The Southern Punjab, Pakistan

The study estimates technical efficiency of wheat farms and its influencing socio-economic factors. The economic factors discussed in this study include farm type (ownership), farm size and farm machinery, and social factors include farmers’ age, qualification, experience, and working style. Data Envelopment Analysis has been used to estimate technical efficiency of wheat. The farm level data was collected from the agriculture farms from two districts of Southern Punjab i.e., Dera Ghazi Khan and Rahim Yar Khan. Kruskal Wallis and Bonferroni comparison tests were performed to see the influences of socio-economic factors on farms’ technical efficiency. It was found that technical efficiency is significantly influenced by farm type, farm size, and farmers’ education and their working experience. The results showed that among the studied farms rented farms were the more efficient whereas the owners’ farms are the least efficient and therefore imply that ownership has negative relation with wheat farms efficiency. Similarly, farm size also has negative and linear relation while education and experience have positive but non-linear relation with the wheat farms’ efficiency. The economic factor; agricultural farm machinery showed a negative effect on the technical efficiency but this effect is insignificant. Similarly, farmers’ age has negative and linear relation with the technical efficiency. Lastly, the part time working farms are more efficient than full time working farmers.