Vol.7 No.1 (2012)

EVOLUTION OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY SCORES FROM CONVENTIONAL TO ORGANIC PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF CHINA’S PADDY RICE FARMERS IN WUCHANG CITY

Chen, Y. (1,*), Xin, J. (1), Zhang, X. (1), Zhao, J. (1), and Chien, H. (2)

Abstract
Based on China’s organic paddy rice farmers’ data collected from field surveys in Wuchang City, this paper utilises a data envelopment analysis method to estimate the technical efficiency scores of organic paddy rice farmers converting from conventional to organic production. Local organic rice-processing firms provide support to farmers to convert to organic production and, thereby, expand their growing scale. This paper finds that there was no change in crop yields experienced by farmers (N=95) converting to organic. Firstly, there was no statistically significant difference comparing the yields for farmers (N=76) under 'conventional' management and their first year of conversion to organic management. Secondly, there was no statistical difference comparing the yields for farmers (N=19) in their first year of conversion to organic management with their yields in their second year of organic conversion.

Keywords: paddy rice, farmer, data envelopment analysis, technical efficiency.

 

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