Evaluating technical efficiency of hair goat farms in Turkey: the case of Mersin Province

Abstract

This study aims to determine the efficiency levels of hair goat farms and to investigate the effect of socio-economic factors on efficiency. The data were collected from 110 hair goat farmers operating in Mersin province of Turkey, in the year 2019. An input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to estimate technical efficiency scores and Tobit regression was employed to determine effective factors on technical efficiency. DEA results showed under the constant and variable returns to scale assumptions that the mean efficiency scores were estimated as 0.67 and 0.76, respectively. The present results indicated that farmers were overusing inputs and they can reduce the inputs by 33% and 24% in order to produce the same level of output. The results further show that farmers’ education (p < 0.05), the number of goats (p < 0.01), income (p < 0.05) and cooperative membership (p < 0.10) are statistically significant factors influencing the technical efficiency of hair goat farms. Technical efficiency of farms should be improved by focusing on the education and extension services for optimum input use, adopting new technologies by encouraging farmers to join cooperatives.