Economic Efficiency of Key Mango Varieties between Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Abstract

The study used Cobb-Douglas and translog form of stochastic frontier profit function to measure economic efficiency of mango farmers. The findings showed that economic efficiency of the cooperative farmer group was greater than that of the non-cooperative farmer group in all three seasons examined. Certain adjustments in the input factors could increase the profit of mango growers in the Mekong Delta. Moreover, the positive determinants of the profit efficiency of the cooperative farmer group were education, wrapping bag and plant density in season 1, wrapping bag in seasons 2 and 3, plant density in season 2, and education in season 3, while the negative factors were age, payment for the agro-input wholesaler, and farming experience in all three seasons, and credit access and market access in seasons 1 and 2. The positive determinants of EE in the non-cooperative farmer group were farming experience and market access in all three seasons, credit access in seasons 2 and 3, and plant density in seasons 1 and 3; the negative determinants of economic efficiency were age in all three seasons, education and payment for the agro-input wholesaler in seasons 1 and 3, wrapping bag and classifying sale in season 3.This may pave the way for relevant policymakers to look for policies that lead to improve income of small-scale farmers that either are or are not members of cooperatives with the ultimate goal of reaching a sustainable development strategy.