Technical Efficiency of Paddy Cultivation: A Socioeconomic Analysis of Haryana State

This paper investigates farm-specific technical inefficiency effects of paddy farms in Haryana using stochastic frontier production function, which incorporates a model for technical inefficiency effects including age, schooling, access to institutional credit, extension contacts and level of farm holding fragmentation. The study reveals that the traditional average response function was not an adequate representation of the data. The mean technical efficiency turns out to be 87%. Thus, yield of paddy in Haryana can be increased by 13% without increasing the level of inputs, if the inefficiency is reduced. Medium-size paddy farms are found more technically efficient as compared to their large and small-size counterparts. The results further indicate that technical inefficiency of paddy production is influenced positively by age and level of fragmentation, whereas negatively by education, access to institutional credit and extension contacts. This study suggests the need to promote young farmers as decision-makers along with raising the education level of farming community and also efforts should be made to further strengthen the extension contacts, access to institutional credit for farmers and to control the fragmentation of farm holdings.