Productive Efficiency of Potato and Melon Growing Farms in Uzbekistan: A Two Stage Double Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis

Abstract

This article is one of the first to carry out a non-parametric efficiency analysis of crop production in Uzbekistan. The study applies the bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to compute bias corrected technical efficiency (TE) scores using a sample of farms located in two regions of Uzbekistan. The study also investigates the determinants of TE in potato and melon production. Results indicate that there is room for efficient use of resources. Farmers are found to be more scale-efficient but not productively efficient. Findings from the second stage DEA model display that soil fertility index, farm size, water availability, crop diversification index, dependency ratio, potential to work in large land area, and longer distance to market contribute positively to production efficiency.