| Agricultural production in Pakistan doubled during the green revolution, averting food crises and spurring an era of agricultural and economic growth. However, agricultural sector growth has decelerated to just 3.1 percent per annum during the past 10 years. There is a significant yield gap between progressive and average farmers in Pakistan, furthermore the national average yield of important crops such as wheat, cotton, rice, and sugarcane also lag behind both regionally and globally. Attention needs to be paid to issues pertaining to the prioritization of public investments and the design of public policies best suited to simultaneously accelerate productivity growth and reduce poverty. The paper specifically evaluates wheat efficiency using a stochastic production frontier approach, since it is the staple diet and is grown extensively throughout the country. The results indicate that there is significant technical inefficiency with mean score of 78 percent. However, the major factors affecting the efficiency of farmers are no longer years of schooling, visits by extension agents, and land size as most prior studies have suggested. I find that land degradation and weather shocks are major sources of inefficiency. These findings suggest that effort is needed to improve the extension system so that farmers are better informed about alternate technologies, cropping systems, and sustainable practices. |
