Symbiotic relationships have been known to exist in Livestock-oil palm integration; this survey demonstrates with statistical figures based on current evidence on only the benefits of livestock on oil palm in an integrated system. Data were collected from 255 respondents under smallholder scheme in districts of Johor for the 2011 production season; basic descriptive statistics and farm budget tools were used for analysis. Results indicate that farmers maintain an average farm size of 2.52 ha to obtain an average Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) yield of 18.45 t/ha/yr, representing 2.6 t/ha/yr or 14.1% increase in yield due to livestock integration, an average labour cost of RM5.12/manhour was estimated and Total Variable Cost (TVC) constitute 88% of cost of production as against 12% for Total Fixed Cost (TFC). The research also estimated a reduction in cost of weeding worth RM534.68/ha/yr; from RM568.17/ha/yr down to RM33.49/ha/yr; commensurate to 94% saved cost from weeding operations, 15% reduction in cost of labour and 8.6% reduction in total cost of production due to the influence of livestock grazing. Furthermore, analyses show that FFB accounts for the majority (81%) of the revenue in the integration system, while the livestock constitute (15%), Palm Oil Fronds (POF) (3%) and animal dung (0.03%). Although the revenue from the by-products is meager, but an indicator that revenue diversification is feasible to achieve increase in revenue and finally, a net income of RM7431.479/ha/yr was estimated. The production constraints identified in the smallholder livestock-oil palm integration were grouped into technical, economical, ecological and environmental constraints and suggestions were proffered on the management of the constraints with the view to minimize their militating effects for a more efficient and productive system to enhance better the income of the farmers.

Two full frontiers (DEA and FDH) and two partial frontiers (order-alpha and order-m) were employed on the same data set for comparative estimation of technical efficiency in the goat-oil palm and cattle-oil palm integration systems. Data were collected from 255 livestock-oil palm integrated smallholder farms in Johor, Malaysia for the 2011 production season. Although the estimators differ in their assumptions but the technical efficiency estimates from the four distinct estimators based on the data set used appear to be similar both in magnitude and distribution as most farms produce either on the frontier or very close to the frontier. The small nature of the farms accounts for the negligible inefficiency recorded; as recommendation, larger farm size is indeed a policy tool that can guarantee frontier production to all farms.

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Abstract. This study adopts an output oriented Shephard Distance Function (SDF) to estimate Technical Efficiency (TE) in cattle feedlot under five distinct estimators (Data Envelopment Analysis /DEA/, Free Disposal Hull /FDH/, Order-m, Order-α and Bootstrap). The aim is to rank the efficiency estimates based on descending order of the TE estimates from the five estimators and test the hypotheses of mean difference across the estimators. In addition, the independent variables used in the feedlot system were also ranked based on magnitude to total cost. Results show initial cost of animal, feed cost, water cost, labour cost, depreciation, medicaments and cost of salt lick are ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively, in terms of proportion to total cost. The study found a combination of inappropriate scale of production and managerial problems as the causes of inefficiency in the cattle feedlot. The study advocates for proper pricing of inputs, commensurate and timely utilization of inputs to avert input waste. Similarly, the study recommends up-scaling (178 cattle feedlot) and down-scaling (92 cattle feedlot) the cattle feedlot production owing to their operation at increasing and decreasing returns to scale, respectively, to attain enhanced efficiency.

Abstract. This study assessed apiculture enterprise to determine the output elasticity of production, returns to scale, technical efficiency and profitability in Adamawa State, Nigeria. A total of four agricultural zones out of six, and 108 apiarists were selected through purposive and simple random methods, respectively. Descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production function and budgetary technique were used in the analyses of data. Findings revealed that all (100%) the respondents were males within the age range of 21-30 years (44.44%). The majority of apiarists (87.0%) were married with household size of 1-10 persons (77.78%) and 50.0% of them had secondary school education. A larger proportion (37.0%) had between 6 and 10 years of beekeeping experience with 41.67% earning monthly income of N11000 (USD30.8) – N20000 (USD56.0) from other sources. Further, the findings revealed that labor and number of hives had reassuring influence on the industry, while age, education and experience could be used to reduce inefficiency in the industry to improve efficiency status. The apiarists also had mean technical efficiency of 89.9%, while the inefficiency estimate was only 10.1%. In terms of profitability, beekeeping in the study area was found to have had a high gross margin of N16800.00 (USD47.0) and net farm income of N15225.97 (USD42.6) for every beehive in a cropping season. The major constraints to beekeeping reported in the area included beehive crops theft, high propensity of bees’ stings, inadequacy of finance, rampant bush burning and deforestation, among others. It was concluded that beekeeping in the study area was found to be profitable and technically efficient. Improving beekeeping business in the area, among other things, would require its modernization and involvement of female participants, provision of soft credit facilities and enactment of stringent forestry laws to check unwholesome forestry practices.