Economic efficiency of small-scale tilapia farms in Guangxi, China

TLDR

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to assess the economic efficiency of small-scale tilapia farms in Guangxi, China. The DEA revealed mean technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies of 0.89, 0.97, and 0.71, respectively, with inefficient farms needing a 32 % output increase to match best practices; allocative inefficiency was the main driver, while economic efficiency positively correlated with age, culture mode, and period, and negatively with experience, family involvement, and technology support, suggesting that reducing feed input could improve profitability.

Abstract

The economic efficiency of small-scale tilapia farms in Guangxi, China were analyzed by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The mean technical (under CRS and VRS), allocative, and economic efficiencies of small-scale tilapia farms were 0.89, 0.97, 0.71 and 0.68, respectively. Efficiency analysis revealed that inefficient farms would have needed to increase production output levels by 32% to perform as well as the best practice farms. The decomposition of the economic efficiency showed that allocative inefficiency was the primary cause of economic inefficiency. There were positive relationships between economic efficiency and age, culture mode and period through Tobit regression, while experience, family members, and technology support had negative effects on economic efficiency. Lower input levels of feed quantity may help to increase the tilapia farming economic efficiency.