Technical efficiency of dairy farmers in Tamil Nadu an application of stochastic frontier production function

The study was undertaken in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts of Tamil Nadu state of India with the objective of estimating technical efficiency in milk production with respect to different milch animals. The primary data on socio-economic characteristics of milk production, expenditure incurred on feeds and fodder, imputed labour wage of family members, miscellaneous expenses and procurement price were collected from 180 milk producers from the study area. Stochastic frontier production function analysis was used to estimate the technical efficiency in milk production. The mean technical efficiency in milk production was estimated to be 86.32 per cent for crossbred, 77.41 per cent for local cows and 84.49 per cent for buffalos. The education level of famers had the positive impact on returns from milk production of crossbred cows while age negatively and significantly influenced the technical efficiency in crossbred and local cow farms; land holding size had the negative and significant influence. In case of the herd size it was found that the estimates for local cows were negative and significant.