A comparative study between Stochastic frontier production function and corrected Ordinary Least Square (OLS) were estimated to determine technical efficiency in paddy production. Further, the study has assessed the effect of farm specific socio economic factors affecting the technical efficiency. This study was conducted in Cauvery delta zone of seven taluks about canal irrigation. The number of farmers in canal irrigated region about 109 from seven taluks is considered. The data were obtained from the cost of cultivation scheme of Tamil Nadu centre. The results of Cobb Douglas stochastic production function indicated that fertilizer, seed, pesticide and machine hours significantly influenced yield of paddy. The results also indicated that it will be highly profitable to increase the use of seed, and need to rationalize the labour use and pesticide usage. The effect of qualitative variable namely age and education of the farmer would indicate that the older farmers technical efficiency become less compared to the younger farmer, and also implying that investments on human capital take away their participation from agriculture. As a comparative study in general, COLS produced the lowest mean technical efficiency with 85 percent while the Stochastic frontier analysis produced the highest mean technical efficiency with 90 per cent.
Agricultural residues were characterized to determine their feasibility as feedstock for plasma gasification. Husk, stalk, straw and shell were selected for the study and proximate analysis, elemental composition analysis, thermal value analysis were carried out using standard procedures. Producer gas generated from these bio-residues is well suited for plasma gasification process where the working temperature is between 1200-2000ºC. These substances have moisture content in the range of 5-12%, and volatile matter content of 58-70%, offering good burning characteristics and conversion to electricity. The fixed carbon content of 13 to 20% contributes significantly to its calorific value. The average calorific value of selected agricultural residues (18.27 MJ/kg) was higher than the calorific value of feedstock (12 to 16 MJ/kg) used in plasma gasification, thus reinforcing their suitability further. It was found that selected agricultural residues could be adopted and promising fuel for plasma generation and deserve further development as a sustainable and renewable alternative.
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