Department of Economics and Sociology, and Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, Punjab.
*Author for correspondence, Email: sekhonmk@yahoo.co.in.
§This paper is based on the report, Production, marketing and institutional constraints: strategies for small and marginal farmers, sponsored by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi.
The technical efficiency in crop production has been reported in different regions as well as in the state of Punjab to show how different regions have adopted the latest technology. Technical efficiency of individual farms has been estimated through stochastic frontier production function analysis. The production function estimates have pointed towards the presence of disguised unemployment in the sub-mountainous region of the Punjab state. The technical efficiency has shown a wide variation across regions. The average technical efficiency has been found maximum in the central region (90 per cent), followed by south-western and sub-mountainous regions. The main drivers of inefficiency have been identified as experience in agriculture and age of a farmer. The policy intervention to improve technical efficiency being not the same for all the regions, the study has observed that the state would benefit more if policy interventions are developed at the local level.
