The Research On Input And Output Eiffciency Of Citrus In China

With extensive cultivation and management， citrus industry become a kind oflabor-intensive industry in China. However，since the graduate increasing of the price of laborand agricultural means of production，and a succession of agricultural emergencies，such asnatural disasters，insect pests and plague，leading to an extremely inefficiency input andoutput of citrus in the agriculture commodities. Citrus occupies an important position in fruitindustry in China，however，the existing research is deficient in further research on the inputand output relationship as well as resource allocation of citrus production，especially lackingof the analysis of economics meaning.Some agriculture economists extend discussion around present production situation ofcitrus，yet a few economists relate the input and output efficiency of citrus in the economicfield. Basis on this，the author select some of the samples data about the production costs andbenefits in main citrus producing provinces. By DEA（Data Envelopment Analysis）methods，mainly launch the horizontal comparison among each of the provinces，vertical comparisonamong different years，and comparing the difference of input and output efficiency for citrusvarieties. This paper also discussed about the issues that how to decrease the cost and increasebenefit，how to invest reasonably，and how to increase the input and output efficiency，inorder to provide scientific policy guides for citrus growers of producing provinces in thesouth.First of all，after defined the main citrus producing provinces（autonomous regions andmunicipalities）and citrus varieties，from the scale of production and output perspective，itdescribes the status of citrus production in the fruit briefly，then，analyzed the input andoutput factors of composition and changes in the cost of production trends in detail. Based onthe discussion of the current situation of input and output for citrus in China，tangerines andcitrus are selected as two varieties of citrus fruits，identified the elements of input indicatorsand output indicators by the elements of proportion，as the foundation for the followingempirical analysis.Secondly，by using the DEA-Malmquist productivity index methods，through theanalysis of vertical time series and horizontal citrus main producing region，explored citrustotal factor input and output efficiency by dividing regions and species dynamically，dissected its change trend and the reason for these variation to find the growth roots of TFP（TotalFactor Productivity）and the effective ways to improve the input and output efficiency. Theresults showed that TFP of citrus had big fluctuations in the sample period，with smallfluctuation for technological efficiency change，the key driving force to promoted TFP growthwas citrus frontier technology advances.Thirdly，from the statics and microscopes point of view，this paper carries out thehorizontal calculation and empirical research on the input and output efficiency of main citrusproducing provinces（autonomous regions and municipalities），analyzed the reasons of theefficiency loss of non-effective Decision Making Units in citrus production，then，regulatedthe amount of input factors，eventually，focused on discussing the causes and adjustmentproposal of citrus production input and output inefficiency in non-effective provinces（autonomous regions and municipalities），give some further optimized resource allocationproposals. The results showed that redundancy rate of the over-input of pesticide costs andother material costs attained to31.2%and37.1%，fertilizer and labor also appeared slightlyredundant，in addition，quite large differences that citrus production input and outputefficiency existed among different provinces.Fourthly，analyzed the citrus influential factors of input and output efficiency with theTobit model，econometrics regression results showed that citrus industry has begun to maturein China，improving the input and output efficiency is no longer by expanding crop area ofsuitable areas. Second，pesticide and fertilizer input are the most important influential factorsto constraint input and output inefficiency of citrus. Third，the labor-intensive citrus industrycharacteristics determine that the input and output efficiency of citrus is not very high.Fourth，the occurrence of natural disasters reduce the input and output efficiency of citrus，while，the positive effect of the agricultural means of production is beneficial to improve inputand output efficiency of citrus.Finally，based on the discussion and empirical analysis results above，the research putsforward the policy recommendations：first，give full play to the advantages of economies ofscale of the citrus region to speed up the citrus intensive production. Second，to adjust theproportion of each input rationally to improve the input and output efficiency of citrus. Third，monitor pesticide dynamically，and strengthen prevention of quarantine pesticide. Fourth，allow full play to the advantages of science and technology resources，according to improvingcitrus frontier planting technology progress，in order to enhance input and output efficiency ofcitrus. Fifth，the Fruit Office and related departments are necessary to take more effectivemeasures to dampen down the sharp rise in agricultural means of production and promote thecitrus farmers’ income space，protecting their benefits. In author’s opinion，this research needs further discussion and extension study：first，tocollect the first-hand survey data from farmers in the citrus main producing region. Second，the contribution of agricultural science and technology’s for increasing the productions andincomes should be based on the certain provinces and the different opportunity of spreading，but not all the same. Third，the research should not be limited to the input and outputefficiency of citrus from citrus growers’ perspective，cooperatives of the main producingregion，citrus’ processing and circulation with the most additional value and marketing，information service of citrus should also be involved in.