Technical Efficiency of Cattle Farming in Moneragala Veterinary Region: A Stochastic Frontier Approach
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Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
“Farming System is a complex inter-related matrix of soil, plants, animals, implements, power,
labour, capital and other inputs controlled in parts by farming families and influenced to varying
degrees by political, economic, institutional and social forces that operate at many levels”
(Mahapatra, 1992). Dairy sector is the most important of all livestock sub sectors primarily
because of the influence it can make on the rural economy. Dairy sector is predominantly based
on small holders keeping 2-5 cows. In the dry zone the herds tend to be large, though the
animals are mostly of the indigenous types with poor milk yields. However, the production of
milk in Sri Lanka has still not yet met the national demand. Increasing the efficiency in production assumes greater significance in attaining potential output at the farm level. There are
comparatively less research on ‘technical efficiency’ of dairy farming in Sri Lanka. Therefore,
this study aimed to identify the important socio economic determinants of milk production and
thereby to find out the technical efficiency of milk production in Moneragala veterinary region.
Methodology
The Moneragala Veterinary region was selected for this study. The Veterinary regions were
arranged in descending order of livestock population. The Moneragala Veterinary region, which
has maximum number of livestock population in the district, was selected for the study. A multi
stage random sampling technique was used for the selection of the sample/respondent. The
study covered 10 villages of Moneragala veterinary region to form the sample of 80
respondents. The data collection was carried out by using the structured questionnaire. This
questionnaire was subjected to the pre testing by the survey of ten samples.
Empirical model and variables
Stochastic Frontier production models (Cobb-Douglas production & inefficiency function) were
employed to identify the contributory factors for milk production and the technical efficiency of
farmers using dependent variable and independent variables. . Data were coded and analyzed by
using the Statistical Package of STATA 11.0 and Minitab 15 software package.
Description
Keywords
Animal Sciences, Veterinary Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Cattle Farming, Milk