Technical Efficiency of Dairy Farms in Rural – Urban Interface of Bengaluru: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Function

Author: Kadli Veeresh, B.V. Chinnappa Reddy and Ganeshagouda I. Patil

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Abstract

This study is the modest attempt to explore the influence of urbanization on dairy farming households, dairy profitability and economy of the village. As influenced by urbanization, there have been changes in the herd size in rural, transition and urban areas around Bengaluru. In this attempt, the patterns of emergence of allied agricultural activities and non-farm activities across the Rural-Urban interface have been analyzed and study carried out in north and south transects of Bengaluru across three gradients from each transect to estimate the efficiency of dairy farmers revealed that total variance as well as inefficiency was more among the dairy farmers in Rural gradient in both transects. More than 85 per cent of the total variance of rural gradient in both transects was due to farmers inefficiency whereas in urban gradient less than 70 per cent of the total variance was caused by farmers inefficiency in north as well as south transacts. Farms with efficiency score more than 0.90 was also more among the urban gradients compared to rural and transition. Number of farms with efficiency score less than 0.50 were more among south transect across all gradients than that of north transect. Herd size, concentrate and roughage feeds and number of man days were the main inputs which influence the production and concentrate feeds were more significant in urban gradient while roughage feed was significant in rural gradient. Organizational members and trained farmers are operating more efficiently than non-members.

Keywords

Maximum likelihood estimates, Stochastic Frontier Production, Production Efficiency

Conclusion

The study results shows that total variance as well as inefficiency per cent were more among farmers in rural gradient in both north and south transects. Farms with efficiency scores more than 0.90 was low in all the gradients whereas, number of farms operating with more than 0.90 score was more among urban gradient in both north and south transects. This inefficiency can be attributed to the low educational level, poor management practices and disproportionate use of feeds. These results implicit that the average dairy farmer in this sample in all gradients across both transects has the potential to increase their efficiency considerably without changing their production frontier because these major proportion of total variance in the estimated models were due to farmers inefficiency which can be controlled by the farmers and can improve the efficiency by going for appropriate management practices like balanced feed supply norms and organizational participation. The study also revealed that production inputs which are included in the model were contributing significantly to the production efficiency of the farms. Increase in herd size will lead to operation of economies of scale and there by increases the profitability of farm. The variable fodder crop also has the positive relationship with the efficiency of farms. Both as the farmers in rural gradients are more dependent on roughage feed, cultivation of fodder crops has more significance in the production efficiency of farms in rural gradient. Organizational participation and training of the farmers had significant influence on the production efficiency of sampled farmers so it is essential create awareness about the benefits of organizational membership and training activities among the dairy farmers.

References

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How to cite this article

Kadli Veeresh, B.V. Chinnappa Reddy and Ganeshagouda I. Patil (2023). Technical Efficiency of Dairy Farms in Rural – Urban Interface of Bengaluru: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Function. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(10): 1022-1027.