Rice and maize are the two most important annual crops in Viet Nam. Rice production is sufficient for self-consumption and exportation, whereas maize production is insufficient and must be imported because of the growing feed industry. In Son La, the largest area in the Northwest with the greatest production of maize, maize is cultivated continuously all year, whereas paddy rice is cultivated mostly in the spring. To our knowledge, this article is the first study to estimate farm-level technical and scale efficiencies and to identify the factors influencing them. This study first applied a standard and smooth bootstrap DEA method to estimate the technical and scale efficiencies, then used a Tobit regression method to identify factors influencing these efficiencies among farms. The results showed that the opportunity for both technical and scale inefficiencies of maize and rice crops is insignificant. Findings from the second stage indicated that the age of the head of household, the numbers of family, the national electricity source, the distance to the nearest market, and the access to credit, extension services and milling machines are the main factors affecting the technical and scale efficiencies of rice and maize crops. The findings suggest continuing improvement of management, co-operation in cultivation, crop diversity and optimal use rice plots. The results also recommend expanding the national electricity source, emphasizing policies for adjusting customs and knowledge, using credit in appropriate ways and continuing to enhance extension services.
Every information source has advantages and disadvantages for delivering certain types of information. However information sources have generally been recognized as tools that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of agriculture as collecting and distributing agricultural information is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that explain the variation among farmers in their use of information sources based on household (farm)-level data. The results show that household income, farm size, household size, educational attainment, and off-farm jobs are the most important factors influencing the use of media and personal information sources. The implications of these results are introducing and encouraging more off-farm jobs for farmers. As such, the provincial government and extension agents are recommended to work more effectively to enhance and help farmers diversifying crops and applying technologies. It is also important to improve the quantity and quality of extension services. The results also suggest that adjusting policies for reducing the gap among districts are needed, and farmers' education should focus on training for agricultural knowledge, social activities, governmental policies, as well as, using informational sources, such as the Internet, computers, etc.
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