Measuring the Metafrontier Efficiencies and Technology Gaps of Dried Apricot Farms in Different Agro-Ecological Zones

Abstract

Dried apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.), which is extensively produced in Malatya region, is one of the most exported crop in the Turkish agriculture. Malatya is not only in Turkey, but also is the most producer region of whole world. Apricot is cultivated in all zones of Malatya under varying agro-ecological conditions that reflect production technology. Due to the conditions, performance of the farms and output quantity also varies. Thus, the present research focused to the production efficiency (TE) and technological gaps (TGR) of the farms in the different agro-ecological zones of Malatya, which is six, using stochastic metafrontier approach. The measured average individual technical efficiency (TE), metafrontier (MFTE) and TGR varied between 50%-83%, 16%-33% and 20%-56%, respectively among the zones. The empirical results reveal that dried apricot farms in the six agro-ecological zones adopt heterogeneous production technologies due to differences in their production environments. Therefore, agricultural policies should be developed to reduce the technology gap between specific zones and the overall agricultural sector.