Measuring the technical efficiency and exploring the inefficiency determinants of vegetable farms in Samsun province, Turkey

The purposes of this research were to measure the technical efficiency of sample vegetable farms and subsequently to explore determinants of technical inefficiency in the Samsun province of Turkey. Stochastic Frontier Analysis was used to measure technical efficiency. Farm managers from 75 randomly selected farms were interviewed for farm level data in the 2002–2003 production periods. Research results revealed that the average output of vegetable farms in Samsun could increase by 18% under prevailing technology. The technical efficiency of the sample vegetable farms ranged from 0.56 to 0.95 (0.82 average). The variables of schooling, experience, credit use, participation by women and information score negatively affected technical inefficiency. However, age, family size, off-farm income and farm size showed a positive relationship with inefficiency. Therefore, this study proposes strategies such as providing better extension services and farmer training programs, integrating women into the training and extension programs, raising the educational level of farmers, and providing farmers with greater access to credit, to enhance technical efficiency.