Assessing Technical Efficiency in Malaysian Pineapple Farms: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Approach

Abstract

Pineapple cultivation proves to be a significant component of Malaysia's agricultural sector. This research was aimed at quantifying technical efficiency of Johor small-scale pineapple agriculturists. Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), a statistical method used to estimate production or cost frontiers, was the preferred method for this purpose. This approach was also used to identify key elements, such as socio-economic characteristics, that influence technical implementation in pineapple farms. A total of 290 pineapple growers participated in the study, and data was collected between 2019 and 2021 during the growing season. The mean observed score of 0.681 is an indication of agriculturists non- maximum efficiency operation activity. However, the inefficiency model showed that aspects such as agricultural experience, extension visits, and participation in workshops significantly reduced inefficiency. The main problem in production points to suboptimal farming applications: agriculturists abstain from using all available agricultural inputs to achieve maximum production. The findings of the study emphasise the need for agriculturists’ proficiency refinement and upskilling in pineapple cultivation agrarian andragogy. Keywords: stochastic frontier analysis, technical efficiency