Determinants of technical efficiency in agriculture in new EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Štefan Bojnec ◽  
Imre Fertő ◽  
Attila Jámbor ◽  
József Tóth
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
New Eu Member States

Technical efficiency in agriculture of 10 new EU member states is analysed by Data Envelopment Analysis and econometric panel data analysis. Technical efficiency in agriculture is significantly positively associated with agricultural factor endowments, average farm size, farm specialisation, small-scale farms, and technological change. Foreign direct investments have an ambiguous effect. Reform and institutional developments, large-scale privatisation and price liberalisation, and urban- rural income gap are associated with technical efficiency in agriculture positively. An increase in technical efficiency in agriculture and the development of the rural economy are seen as a strategy to boost the level of living standards in agriculture and in rural areas.

scholarly journals Eradication of PRRS from backyard swine herds in Hungary between 2012 and 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imre Nemes ◽  
Tamás Molnár ◽  
Tamás Abonyi ◽  
Zsolt Terjék ◽  
Ádám Bálint ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Eradication Programme ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Government ◽  
Swine Herds ◽  
First Time ◽  
Free Status ◽  
The Eu

In the EU Member States with a traditionally significant pig industry, the prevalence of PRRS infections is high. Therefore, the Pig Strategy of the Government of Hungary prioritises eradication of PRRSV in Hungary. For the first time among the EU Member States, a National PRRS Eradication Programme was introduced in order to reach a more efficient, economical and competitive international market position. Although its significance has decreased in recent decades, 20% of the Hungarian pig population is still kept on small-scale (backyard) farms (< 100 animals). The prevalence of PRRSV in backyard farms was 3.9% at the beginning of the programme. The present paper details the measures applied during the different phases of the programme in backyard farms. During all the phases, serological testing of the breeding animals of the registered small-scale herds was performed, including the highest number of individual animals. Seropositive individuals were tested by PCR and were removed from the backyard farm within the framework of official measures. By sequencing the identified PRRS strains, the possible epidemic relationships between small-scale and large-scale farms were continuously monitored. As a result of the programme, PRRS-free status of the small-scale herds was achieved by the end of 2015, and this status was maintained in 2016-2018.

Vocational Education in the New EU Member States

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Canning ◽  
Martin Godfrey ◽  
Dorota Holzer-Zelazewska
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Education ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
New Eu Member States

scholarly journals Agricultural Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Markose Chekol Zewdie ◽  
Michele Moretti ◽  
Daregot Berihun Tenessa ◽  
Zemen Ayalew Ayele ◽  
Jan Nyssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Approach ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

In the past decade, to improve crop production and productivity, Ethiopia has embarked on an ambitious irrigation farming expansion program and has introduced new large- and small-scale irrigation initiatives. However, in Ethiopia, poverty remains a challenge, and crop productivity per unit area of land is very low. Literature on the technical efficiency (TE) of large-scale and small-scale irrigation user farmers as compared to the non-user farmers in Ethiopia is also limited. Investigating smallholder farmers’ TE level and its principal determinants is very important to increase crop production and productivity and to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood and food security. Using 1026 household-level cross-section data, this study adopts a technology flexible stochastic frontier approach to examine agricultural TE of large-scale irrigation users, small-scale irrigation users and non-user farmers in Ethiopia. The results indicate that, due to poor extension services and old-style agronomic practices, the mean TE of farmers is very low (44.33%), implying that there is a wider room for increasing crop production in the study areas through increasing the TE of smallholder farmers without additional investment in novel agricultural technologies. Results also show that large-scale irrigation user farmers (21.05%) are less technically efficient than small-scale irrigation user farmers (60.29%). However, improving irrigation infrastructure shifts the frontier up and has a positive impact on smallholder farmers’ output.

scholarly journals Farm Size, Risk Aversion and Overuse of Fertilizer: The Heterogeneity of Large-Scale and Small-Scale Wheat Farmers in Northern China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Haixia Wu ◽  
Hantao Hao ◽  
Hongzhen Lei ◽  
Yan Ge ◽  
Hengtong Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Deviation Degree ◽  
Small Scale Farmers

The excessive use of fertilizer has resulted in serious environmental degradation and a high health cost in China. Understanding the reasons for the overuse of fertilizer is critical to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture, and large-scale operation is considered as one of the measures to deal with the excessive fertilizer use. Under the premise of fully considering the resource endowment and heterogeneity of large-scale farmers and small-scale farmers in production and management, different production decision-making frameworks were constructed. Based on the 300 large-scale farmers and 480 small-scale farmers in eight provinces of northern China wheat region, we analyzed the optimal fertilizer use amount and its deviation as well as the influencing factors of small-scale and large-scale farmers, then further clarified whether the development of scale management could solve the problem of excessive fertilizer use. The empirical results show that: (1) both small-scale farmers and large-scale farmers deviated from the optimal fertilizer application amount, where the deviation degree of optimal fertilizer application of small-scale farmers is significantly higher than that of large-scale farmers, with a deviation degree of 35.43% and 23.69% for small and large scale farmers, respectively; (2) not all wheat growers in North China had the problem of excessive use of chemical fertilizer, as the optimal level of chemical fertilizer application in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia are 346.5 kgha−1 and 335.25 kgha−1, while the actual fertilizer use amount was 337.2 kgha−1 and 324.6 kgha−1, respectively; and (3) the higher the risk aversion level, farmers tended to apply more fertilizer to ensure grain output. Therefore, increasing farm size should be integrated into actions such as improving technological innovation and providing better information transfer to achieve the goal of zero-increase in Chinese fertilizer use.

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