2015 Jack Makeham Memorial Lecture

by Associate Professor George Battese, University of New England

Memorial Lecture Title: Factors Influencing the Productivity and Efficiency of Wheat Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan 

The UNEBS R&RT Committee and the AARES New England Branch cordially invite you to attend to the 2015 Jack Makeham Memorial Lecture, delivered by Associate Professor George Battese. The session will be held on Friday 6th November in Lecture Theatre 2, W40 in EBL Building at 12:00PM.

Abstract

Scientists in Pakistan are currently developing bio-fortified wheat varieties to address widespread zinc deficiency, especially among women and children in poorer rural households. The purpose of this study is to understand how the productivity and efficiency of smaller-scale and marginal wheat farmers can be improved so that their households may benefit from zinc-fortified varieties. We estimate a stochastic frontier production function model with data from a survey of wheat farmers conducted in Punjab, Pakistan in 2011. The productivities of the newer varieties of wheat were significantly greater than the older varieties, as expected. Farmers growing wheat in the rice-wheat and cotton-wheat zones tend to be more efficient than farmers from the mixed zone. Farmers who wait to adopt a leading variety are not less efficient than earlier adopters, but the longer the time until they switch varieties again, the more inefficient is their wheat production. Older farmers tend to be more technically inefficient than younger farmers, but the effect of education is not statistically significant. Wheat farmers with access to extension advice are more efficient. Farmers whose land suffered from severe salinity or severe toxicity are less productive and less efficient than others. We find no differences in technical inefficiency effects associated with growing the four most popular varieties, either grown alone or with other varieties—suggesting that no single leading variety should be targeted for bio-fortification. In contrast to some earlier studies, we find that smaller-scale farmers tend to be less technically efficient. This result underscores the need to specifically target this group in promotional programs, and also to complement these with reinforcement of agronomic recommendations.

George Battese is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New England (UNE), Australia. He has three degrees from UNE: B.Ag.Ec. (1964), M.Ag.Ec. (1968) and D.Ec. (2005); and a PhD (1973) in statistics from Iowa State University. He was a full-time staff member at UNE during 1964–1967 and 1974–2002. He retired from full-time employment in August 2002 after completing 32 years of service at UNE. He has also had appointments at Iowa State University during 1967–1974, 1980/81 and 1987; plus short-term appointments at Gothenburg University in Sweden, the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad in Pakistan, Chiang Mai University in Thailand, and Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. He has had short-term consultancies at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC; Innovative Development Strategies in Islamabad, Pakistan; HarvestPlus, a division of IFPRI in Washington, DC; and the Asia Development Bank Institute in Tokyo. George has authored or co-authored over 40 publications on stochastic frontier analysis, 31 being included in his D.Ec. dissertation: “25 Years of Research on Modelling and Estimation of Stochastic Frontier Models”. His presentation for the Jack Makeham Memorial Lecture arises out of his consultancy at HarvestPlus in Washington, DC.