AUTHOR=Bahta Sirak , Temoso Omphile , Ng'ombe John N. , Rich Karl M. , Baker Derek , Kaitibie Simeon , Malope Patrick 

TITLE=Productive efficiency of beef cattle production in Botswana: a latent class stochastic meta-frontier analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1098642

DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2023.1098642

ISSN=2571-581X

ABSTRACT=This paper contributes to the efficiency literature and sustainable food production in developing countries by advancing the way efficiency is modelled by estimating beef cattle production latent class stochastic frontiers complemented with a stochastic meta-frontier model. Treating farm performance across regions as unobserved heterogeneity, we analyze technical efficiency of beef cattle production in Botswana. Results show that the best performing farming systems in terms of efficiency are districts with well-developed infrastructure and better access to output and input markets. In contrast, the farming systems that perform poorly consist of agricultural districts without access to livestock advisory centers, with higher average temperatures and foot and mouth disease, limiting access to export markets. The mean technical efficiency scores for beef production for agricultural districts in class one and two are 62% and 59%, respectively, implying high potential to improve beef production using the same level of agricultural inputs through efficiency-enhancing investments. Based on our findings, agricultural policies should focus on providing regionally-specific investments that commensurate the needs of the lagging districts, to help beef producers improve their input efficiency and minimize technological gaps to the meta-frontier.