2023 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 80-86
The Benguet Province of the Philippines is endowed with distinct agroecological zones favorable for the production of high-value vegetables. Potato is one of the top ten vegetable crops in Benguet Province in terms of production area, volume, and value. However, potato production in the Philippines in general is characterized by low yield, with a yield per hectare of 15.5 tons compared to the world average yield of 20.9 tons in 2018. This study examined the technical efficiency (TE) and inefficiency determinants of potato producers in Benguet Province, Philippines. Data from 101 farmers from the major potato-producing municipalities in Benguet Province was collected in 2019. We employed the Cobb-Douglas stochastic production frontier after the null hypothesis for the translog function was rejected. The production function result revealed that land, hired labor, organic fertilizer (chicken dung) and fungicide had significant effects on potato yield. We also found that the mean technical efficiency of potato farmers is about 0.89, implying that farmers can increase their production by about 11 %, with an average yield increase from 15.8 to 17.6 t/ha, using existing resources. The yield gap result further revealed that farmers are producing below the production possibility frontier. However, the observed average yield is about 50 % lower than the potential yield (31 t/ha) found by Benguet State University. The inefficiency model result depicted that a larger household size, higher level of education, using the Granola potato variety, receiving training related to vegetable production, and partial irrigation significantly improve technical efficiency, while hand tractor ownership and rainfed cultivation were the major sources of technical inefficiency in potato production. In conclusion, while comprehensive plot-level studies including various parameters remain important to understanding why potato producers’ yields are significantly lower than the potential yields, we recommend promoting the Granola variety along with the use of organic fertilizers and the provision of training to enhance the efficiency of producers.
