Land reform in NE Brazil: a stochastic frontier production efficiency evaluation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to address the sources of technical and allocative inefficiency from a cross section sample of 308 beneficiaries of a market assisted land reform program, called "Cédula da Terra"; from five states in Northeastern region of Brazil. In spite of some differences on governance of the "Cédula da Terra"; in comparison with traditional expropriation land reform program, studies carried by Buainain et al. (2002) have shown small differences between then, regarding their social and economic characteristics. We believe that our results could be useful to identify the main problems of Brazilian land reform settlements. We estimated a potential production frontier following the methodology of Battese and Coelli (1995), Coelli et al. (1998) and applied econometric techniques to explain inefficiency. The results indicate the existence of technical and allocative inefficiency, which is identified mostly in situations where the presence of production for consumption is high. This is a result that shows how immature the agriculture activity is in most of Cédula da Terra Program settlements and the difficulty to overcome the limitations imposed by the initial condition of formation of agrarian reform, primarily in Northeastern region of Brazil.<br>O objetivo desse artigo é caracterizar as fontes da ineficiência técnica e alocativa em um conjunto de 308 beneficiários de um programa de reforma agrária de mercado, chamado "Cédula da Terra";, distribuídos em cinco estados do Nordeste brasileiro. Estudos conduzidos por Buainain et al. (2002) mostraram existem poucas diferenças entre as características de beneficiários deste programa e dos programas tradicionais de reforma agrária por expropriação e que portanto, os resultados obtidos por este trabalho permitem visualizar as dificuldades enfrentadas pelos assentamentos no Brasil. Para medir eficiência, estimou-se uma função de produção potencial segundo a metodologia de Battese e Coelli (1995) e a partir disto, procurou-se explicar as razões da ineficiência (relativa) encontrada. Os resultados apontam para a existência de ineficiência técnica e alocativa que é identificada principalmente nas situações em que a presença de produção para consumo é elevada. Tratase de um resultado que revela a pouca maturidade da maioria dos lotes dos assentados do PCT e a dificuldade de superar as limitações impostas pela condição inicial de formação dos assentamentos de reforma agrária, principalmente na região nordeste do Brasil

Production Efficiency of Family Farms and Business Farms in the Brazilian Regions

“…One possible explanation for this result, the authors say, is that rural production would be a secondary occupation for those with formal education in the context they analyzed so that their establishments would receive less attention and thus exhibit smaller technical inefficiency. As previously seen in the literature review, Igliori (2005) also found negative impact of formal education on technical efficiency, while Magalhães et al (2011) found it as not significant.…”

“…In the literature on the Brazilian case, Helfand and Levine (2004) found a positive effect on the efficiency, while Nogueira (2005) found negative and Magalhães et al (2011) have not found conclusive results. As examples of applications in other areas of the world, Liu and Zhuang (2000) and Abdulai and Eberlin (2001) found positive effect on efficiency and, on the other hand, Battese and Broca (1997) and Solís et al (2009) found no significant parameters for the variable corresponding to credit access in their works.…”

“…More recently, Magalhães et al (2011) applied the methodology of Battese and Coelli (1995) to assess the determinants of technical inefficiency of 308 beneficiaries of the land reform program "Cédula da Terra" in five states in the northern region of the country, between the years 2002 and 2003. Among their results, Magalhães et al (2011) point out that labor was the factor that essentially determined production.…”

“…Among their results, Magalhães et al (2011) point out that labor was the factor that essentially determined production. The authors indicate that the small weight of land and other inputs would be consistent with the fact that they were studying establishments originated from a land reform program, which probably employ labor intensive technology, with low use of other inputs.…”

Produtividade, variação da eficiência técnica e tecnológica na agricultura dos municípios cearences

“…Magalhães et al (2011) estudaram os determinantes da inefi ciência técnica de benefi ciários do programa de reforma agrária "Cédula da Terra" em cinco estados da região norte do país, entre os anos de 2002 e 2003. Entre seus resultados, sobressaem aqueles em que o fator que causa a produção seria essencialmente o trabalho.…”