Technical efficiency of maize production in Thailand

Abstract

Thailand has always experienced problems with insufficient production of maize to meet domestics demand. The main obstacle to increasing maize production faced by Thai farmers is low productivity, specifically in inappropriate areas. Currently, more than 50 percent of maize planting areas are in conservation forest areas and highlands. This study therefore focuses on the technical efficiency of maize production in major production areas of the country in order to find the ways to increase production efficiency. This study employed Stochastics Frontier Analysis with a Translog form to analyze the technical efficiency of maize production. The data obtained from the survey of maize production during the crop year 2015/16 of 404 farmers in six provinces. The results showed that 69.5 percent of farmers has technical efficiency of maize production at a moderate level (0.63). However, almost one-third of the farmers have the opportunity to increase technical efficiency by increasing the use of seeds and labor in the appropriate amount in order to achieve a higher average yield per rai. The cultivation of maize at least in moderate planting zone results in a higher yield per rai for 0.11 percent (or 94 kilograms/ rai from the average yield of 859 kilograms/ rai.) Growing maize in areas with slopes less than 20 degrees, significantly increases technical efficiency. Noticeably, the results of this study are the empirical evidence to confirm that maize cultivation in appropriate areas following dashboard LDD Zoning and planting in the lowlands are appropriate measures that should be supported to increase domestics supply of maize.