Measuring the efficiency and determinants of rice production in Myanmar: a translog stochastic frontier approach

This study investigated the extent to which rice producers from the Ayeyarwaddy Region of Myanmar could improve their productivity if inputs were used efficiently in rice cultivation. To achieve this objective, simple random sampling was used to collect data from 300 rice growers in the study area. Data were analyzed with the translog stochastic frontier approach to understand the production efficiencies. The study further estimated the influencing factors that affect the efficiency levels of rice farmers. The empirical result reveals that the average technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies were at 76.11, 47.85, and 34.15%, respectively. This suggests that there is considerable room for improving rice production by better utilization of the available resources at the current level of technology. This study suggests that strenthening agricultural training programs and adoption of improved rice varieties may reduce overall inefficiencies among rice farmers in Myanmar. Factors like age, household size, education, farming experience, farm size, rice variety, training, and off-farm income have a significant impact on increasing/decreasing farmer's efficiency. Efficiency can be improved by establishing farmer field school programs to increase the scale of operations. The government should encourage young educated people to participate in paddy production and also intervene to reduce input prices and control the quality of seeds.