IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v7y2019i3p66-d245641.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward Sustainability or Efficiency: The Case of Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen Hung Anh

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany)

  • Wolfgang Bokelmann

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany)

  • Do Thi Nga

    (Faculty of Economics, Tay Nguyen University; Dak Lak 630000, Vietnam)

  • Nguyen Van Minh

    (Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Tay Nguyen University, Dak Lak 630000, Vietnam)

Abstract

This study attempts to uncover the truth behind an increasing number of smallholder farmers participating in sustainable coffee farming in Vietnam. Using stochastic frontier and cost-benefit analysis, a sample of 316 smallholder farmers in Dak Lak was chosen to analyze the economic impacts of sustainable and conventional coffee farming on farmers’ welfare. In addition, we conducted field observation and key informant interviews to describe several farming practices. The results highlight the fact that farmers’ decisions to participate in sustainable coffee farming are mainly driven by economic benefits. Sustainable farming is more cost-effective and profitable than conventional farming, despite the insignificant difference in production efficiency. Improvement of education, farming knowledge, and collective actions could mitigate negative effects of small-scale production for sustainable coffee farmers. Pesticide management, shade coffee encouragement, and reduction of excessive fertilization, over-irrigation, and unproductive coffee varieties are recommended for sustainable development of the sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen Hung Anh & Wolfgang Bokelmann & Do Thi Nga & Nguyen Van Minh, 2019. "Toward Sustainability or Efficiency: The Case of Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Vietnam," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:7:y:2019:i:3:p:66-:d:245641
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/7/3/66/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/7/3/66/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bravo-Monroy, L. & Potts, S.G. & Tzanopoulos, J., 2016. "Drivers influencing farmer decisions for adopting organic or conventional coffee management practices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 49-61.
    2. Greene, William H., 1980. "Maximum likelihood estimation of econometric frontier functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 27-56, May.
    3. Coelli, Tim J., 1995. "Recent Developments In Frontier Modelling And Efficiency Measurement," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(3), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Giovannucci, Daniele & Ponte, Stefano, 2005. "Standards as a new form of social contract? Sustainability initiatives in the coffee industry," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 284-301, June.
    5. Nelson Mango & Clifton Makate & Benjamin Hanyani-Mlambo & Shephard Siziba & Mark Lundy & Caroline Elliott, 2015. "A stochastic frontier analysis of technical efficiency in smallholder maize production in Zimbabwe: The post-fast-track land reform outlook," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1117189-111, December.
    6. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Hoanh, Chu Thai & D'haeze, Dave & Hung, Tran Quoc, 2015. "Toward sustainable coffee production in Vietnam: More coffee with less water," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 96-105.
    7. repec:aer:wpaper:163 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Reifschneider, David & Stevenson, Rodney, 1991. "Systematic Departures from the Frontier: A Framework for the Analysis of Firm Inefficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(3), pages 715-723, August.
    9. Ravallion, Martin, 2008. "Evaluating Anti-Poverty Programs," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 59, pages 3787-3846, Elsevier.
    10. Nyagaka, Daniel & Obare, Gideon A. & Nguyo, Wilson, 2009. "Economic Efficiency of Smallholder Irish Potato Producers in Kenya: A Case of Nyandarua North District," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 49917, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    12. Thang, Tran Cong & Burton, Michael P. & Brennan, Donna C., 2009. "Optimal replanting and cutting rule for coffee farmers in Vietnam," 2009 Conference (53rd), February 11-13, 2009, Cairns, Australia 47638, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    13. Greene, William, 2010. "Testing hypotheses about interaction terms in nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 291-296, May.
    14. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    15. Suranjan Priyanath, Hunuwala Malawarage & Premaratne, S.P. & Yoosuf, Amina & Maurice, D., 2018. "Technical Efficiency for Tea Smallholder Farmers under UTZ Certification System in Sri Lanka: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," MPRA Paper 89683, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ponte, Stefano, 2002. "The 'Latte Revolution'? Regulation, Markets and Consumption in the Global Coffee Chain," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1099-1122, July.
    17. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, Julien, 1977. "Efficiency Estimation from Cobb-Douglas Production Functions with Composed Error," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(2), pages 435-444, June.
    18. Daniel Gaitán-Cremaschi & Frits K. Van Evert & Don M. Jansen & Miranda P. M. Meuwissen & Alfons G. J. M. Oude Lansink, 2018. "Assessing the Sustainability Performance of Coffee Farms in Vietnam: A Social Profit Inefficiency Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    19. Forsund, Finn R. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1980. "A survey of frontier production functions and of their relationship to efficiency measurement," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 5-25, May.
    20. Stevenson, Rodney E., 1980. "Likelihood functions for generalized stochastic frontier estimation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 57-66, May.
    21. Battese, George E. & Coelli, Tim J., 1988. "Prediction of firm-level technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production function and panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 387-399, July.
    22. Laura Raynolds & Douglas Murray & Andrew Heller, 2007. "Regulating sustainability in the coffee sector: A comparative analysis of third-party environmental and social certification initiatives," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 24(2), pages 147-163, June.
    23. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
    24. Greene, William H., 1990. "A Gamma-distributed stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 141-163.
    25. Bardhan, Pranab K, 1973. "Size, Productivity, and Returns to Scale: An Analysis of Farm-Level Data in Indian Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(6), pages 1370-1386, Nov.-Dec..
    26. Okoruwa, Victor O. & Ogundele, O.O. & Oyewusi, B.O., 2006. "Efficiency and Productivity of Farmers in Nigeria: A Study of Rice Farmers in North Central Nigeria," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25248, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    27. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    28. Quoc V. Luong & Loren W. Tauer, 2006. "A real options analysis of coffee planting in Vietnam," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 49-57, July.
    29. Tun, YuYu & Kang, Hye-Jung, 2015. "An Analysis on the Factors Affecting Rice Production Efficiency in Myanmar," East Asian Economic Review, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, vol. 19(2), pages 167-188, June.
    30. James E. Kirkley & Dale Squires & Ivar E. Strand, 1995. "Assessing Technical Efficiency in Commercial Fisheries: The Mid-Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(3), pages 686-697.
    31. Bacon, Christopher, 2005. "Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 497-511, March.
    32. Binam, Joachim Nyemeck & Tonye, Jean & wandji, Njankoua & Nyambi, Gwendoline & Akoa, Mireille, 2004. "Factors affecting the technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in the slash and burn agriculture zone of Cameroon," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 531-545, October.
    33. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    34. Bauer, Paul W., 1990. "Recent developments in the econometric estimation of frontiers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 39-56.
    35. Swain, B.B., 2016. "Does Technological Linkage in Contract Farming Increase Farm Productivity and Efficiency? The Case of Hybrid Paddy Seed Cultivation in Undivided Andhra Pradesh," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 29(2).
    36. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    37. Wurst, John & Neter, John & Godfrey, James, 1989. "Efficiency of Sieve Sampling in Auditing," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 7(2), pages 199-205, April.
    38. Parmeter, Christopher F. & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2014. "Efficiency Analysis: A Primer on Recent Advances," Foundations and Trends(R) in Econometrics, now publishers, vol. 7(3-4), pages 191-385, December.
    39. Giang N. T. Nguyen & Tapan Sarker, 2018. "Sustainable coffee supply chain management: a case study in Buon Me Thuot City, Daklak, Vietnam," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clément, Rigal & Tuan, Duong & Cuong, Vo & Le Van, Bon & Trung, Hoang quôc & Long, Chau Thi Minh, 2023. "Transitioning from Monoculture to Mixed Cropping Systems: The Case of Coffee, Pepper, and Fruit Trees in Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    2. David Israel Contreras-Medina & Luis Miguel Contreras-Medina & Joaliné Pardo-Nuñez & Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas & Carlos Mario Rodriguez-Peralta, 2020. "Roadmapping as a Driver for Knowledge Creation: A Proposal for Improving Sustainable Practices in the Coffee Supply Chain from Chiapas, Mexico, Using Emerging Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    3. Louisa J.M. Jansen & Patrick P. Kalas, 2023. "Improving Governance of Tenure in Policy and Practice: Agrarian and Environmental Transition in the Mekong Region and Its Impacts on Sustainability Analyzed through the ‘Tenure-Scape’ Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-30, January.
    4. Alina Petronela Alexoaei & Valentin Cojanu & Cristiana-Ioana Coman, 2021. "On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Duyen Nhat Lam Tran & Tien Dinh Nguyen & Thuy Thu Pham & Roberto F. Rañola & Thinh An Nguyen, 2021. "Improving Irrigation Water Use Efficiency of Robusta Coffee ( Coffea canephora ) Production in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Coelli, Tim J., 1995. "Recent Developments In Frontier Modelling And Efficiency Measurement," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 39(3), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Gian Carlo Scarsi, 1999. "Local Electricity Distribution in Italy: Comparative Efficiency Analysis and Methodological Cross-Checking," Working Papers 1999.16, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    3. Martín Rossi, 2015. "The Econometrics Approach to the Measurement of Efficiency: A Survey," Working Papers 117, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Feb 2015.
    4. Althaler, Karl S. & Slavova, Tatjana, 2000. "DEA Problems under Geometrical or Probability Uncertainties of Sample Data," Economics Series 89, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    5. Ali M. Oumer & Amin Mugera & Michael Burton & Atakelty Hailu, 2022. "Technical efficiency and firm heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models: application to smallholder maize farms in Ethiopia," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 213-241, April.
    6. Julio Peña & Julio Aguirre & René Cerca D'amico, 2004. "Pesca demersal en Chile: eficiencia técnica y escalas de operación," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 19(1), pages 119-160, June.
    7. Luis R. Murillo‐Zamorano, 2004. "Economic Efficiency and Frontier Techniques," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 33-77, February.
    8. Kashiwagi, Kenichi & Mtimet, Nadhem & Zaibet, Lokman & Nagaki, Masakazu, 2010. "Technical efficiency of olive oil manufacturing and efficacy of modernization programme in Tunisia," 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa 96195, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    9. Amjadi, Golnaz & Lundgren, Tommy, 2022. "Is industrial energy inefficiency transient or persistent? Evidence from Swedish manufacturing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    10. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    11. Massimiliano Piacenza, 2002. "Regulatory Constraints and Cost Efficiency of the Italian Public Transit Systems: An Exploratory Stochastic Frontier Model," CERIS Working Paper 200202, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    12. Abdul Wadud, 2013. "Impact of Microcredit on Agricultural Farm Performance and Food Security in Bangladesh," Working Papers 14, Institute of Microfinance (InM).
    13. Julio Peña-Torres & Michael Basch & Sebastian Vergara, "undated". "EFICIENCIA TÉCNICA Y ESCALAS DE OPERACIÓN EN PESCA PELÁGICA: UN ANÁLISIS DE FRONTERAS ESTOCÁSTICAS (Pesquería Centro-Sur en Chile)," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv137, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    14. William Griffiths & Xiaohui Zhang & Xueyan Zhao, 2014. "Estimation and efficiency measurement in stochastic production frontiers with ordinal outcomes," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 67-84, August.
    15. Zuniga Gonzalez, Carlos Alberto, 2010. "Deforestation Impact on the Household Sustainable Local Development: Nicaragua case, 1998-2005," MPRA Paper 49353, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Jan 2011.
    16. Sedik, David & Trueblood, Michael & Arnade, Carlos, 1999. "Corporate Farm Performance in Russia, 1991-1995: An Efficiency Analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 514-533, September.
    17. Kevin Cullinane & Dong-Wook Song, 2003. "A stochastic frontier model of the productive efficiency of Korean container terminals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 251-267.
    18. Mishra, Ashok K. & Bairagi, Subir & Velasco, Maria Lourdes & Mohanty, Samarendu, 2018. "Impact of access to capital and abiotic stress on production efficiency: Evidence from rice farming in Cambodia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 215-222.
    19. Suyanto, & Salim, Ruhul & Bloch, Harry, 2014. "Which firms benefit from foreign direct investment? Empirical evidence from Indonesian manufacturing," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 16-29.
    20. Cullinane, Kevin & Song, Dong-Wook, 2006. "Estimating the Relative Efficiency of European Container Ports: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 85-115, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:7:y:2019:i:3:p:66-:d:245641. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.