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Family farms plus cooperatives in China: Technical efficiency in crop production

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  • Gong, Tianchen (Charles)
  • Battese, George E.
  • Villano, Renato A.

Abstract

With the aim of improving rural living standards and strengthening the security of crop production, China has adopted “family farms plus cooperatives” as the preferred mode of organization in agriculture. We investigate technical efficiency in crop production comparing family farms that are members of cooperatives, either as core members who have taken investment stakes or common members who have not, with their nonmember counterparts. To allow for heterogeneity in production technology among nonmembers, core members, and common members, we adopt a metafrontier estimation technique. Our data sample consists of 384 family farms in Anhui province for the year 2015. Heterogeneity among family farms, whether members of cooperatives or not, is found to be highly significant. Nonmember farms show the lowest technical efficiency and the widest gap between observed and potential production. By contrast, core members of cooperatives show the highest technical efficiency and the narrowest gap between observed and potential production. We infer that cooperative membership may allow farmers to learn more advanced technology and take advantage of productivity-enhancing practices. We further find that age and education of farm heads contribute to greater technical efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Gong, Tianchen (Charles) & Battese, George E. & Villano, Renato A., 2019. "Family farms plus cooperatives in China: Technical efficiency in crop production," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:64:y:2019:i:c:5
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2019.07.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. Li, Xinyi & Ito, Junichi, 2023. "Determinants of technical efficiency and farmers’ crop choice rationality: A case study of rural Gansu, China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Fang Wu & Xibao Guo & Xia Guo, 2023. "Cooperative membership and new technology adoption of family farms: Evidence from China," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 719-739, September.
    4. Wen Xiang & Jianzhong Gao, 2023. "Do Not Be Anticlimactic: Farmers’ Behavior in the Sustainable Application of Green Agricultural Technology—A Perceived Value and Government Support Perspective," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Haolong Liu, 2022. "The Tripartite Evolutionary Game of Green Agro-Product Supply in an Agricultural Industrialization Consortium," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Samal Kaliyeva & Francisco Jose Areal & Yiorgos Gadanakis, 2020. "Attitudes of Kazakh Rural Households towards Joining and Creating Cooperatives," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Zhiping Huang & Tianran Wang & Na Li, 2022. "Reciprocal and Symbiotic: Family Farms’ Operational Performance and Long-Term Cooperation of Entities in the Agricultural Industrial Chain—From the Evidence of Xinjiang in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    8. Gao, Jia & Song, Ge & Sun, Xueqing, 2020. "Does labor migration affect rural land transfer? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Linwei Wang & Yixin Hu & Rong Kong, 2023. "The Impact of Bancassurance Interaction on the Adoption Behavior of Green Production Technology in Family Farms: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    10. Hongyu Wang & Apurbo Sarkar & Lu Qian, 2021. "Evaluations of the Roles of Organizational Support, Organizational Norms and Organizational Learning for Adopting Environmentally Friendly Technologies: A Case of Kiwifruit Farmers’ Cooperatives of Me," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, March.
    11. Da Fang & Yan Guo, 2021. "Induced Agricultural Production Organizations under the Transition of Rural Land Market: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-24, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Family farms; Cooperatives; Crop production; Metafrontier; Technical efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • N55 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Asia including Middle East

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