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Technical Efficiency among Peasant Farmers Participating in Natural Resource Management Programmes in Central America
Author(s) -
Solís Daniel,
BravoUreta Boris E.,
Quiroga Ricardo E.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2008.00173.x
Subject(s) - peasant , productivity , natural resource , natural resource management , agricultural economics , production–possibility frontier , sustainability , natural capital , diversification (marketing strategy) , agriculture , stochastic frontier analysis , economics , frontier , business , agricultural productivity , natural resource economics , geography , economic growth , production (economics) , ecosystem services , ecosystem , marketing , political science , ecology , macroeconomics , archaeology , law , biology
This study examines the extent to which technical efficiency (TE) is related to activities promoted by two natural resource management programmes recently completed in Central America. Data for a total of 639 farms operating in the hillsides of El Salvador and Honduras are used to estimate a household‐level input‐oriented stochastic distance frontier simultaneously with a TE effects model. The main finding of this study is that improvements in TE are financially beneficial to farm households while also contributing to environmental sustainability. The results also reveal a positive association between productivity and output diversification, and a positive relationship between TE and off‐farm income, human capital and agricultural extension.