Lapar, Ma. Lucila A. Garcia, Alexis Aditto, Satit Suriya, Patcharee
Abstract
This paper investigates smallholder dairy competitiveness from estimates of a translog cost frontier using data from 130 smallholder dairy farms in six provinces of Northeast Thailand. Cost efficiency estimates indicate that there is significant scope for improving cost efficiency in smallholder dairy farms in Northeast Thailand, and costs can be reduced by 26 percent on average. The empirical results also strongly suggest that smaller farms are more cost efficient than larger ones within this sample of smallholder dairy farms. Proper herd management for maintaining an optimal milking cows-herd size ratio coupled with yield-enhancing technologies can enhance cost efficiency. Feed technology options that can potentially reduce costs while maintaining yield levels may also have potential for doing so but the empirical evidence on this is weak, suggesting a gap between technology dissemination and successful adoption. Further validation may be needed towards adjustment in the technology to suit the varying circumstances and resources of smallholder dairy systems. Innovations for strengthening extension modalities and their delivery systems may also need to be explored to enhance the long-term viability of smallholder dairy systems.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association) in its series 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI with number
19514.
Length: Date of creation: 2005 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea05:19514
Contact details of provider: Postal: 555 East Wells Street, Suite 1100, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Phone: (414) 918-3190 Fax: (414) 276-3349 Email: Web page: http://www.aaea.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (AgEcon Search).
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: