Technical Efficiency of Beef Cattle Production in West Nusa Tenggara

Abstract

The characteristics of beef cattle business in West Nusa Tenggara province which are dominated by small-scale farmers by semi-intensive and extensive systems are relatively inefficient. The research objectives were to identify the factors that influenced the level of production and analyze the technical efficiency of beef cattle production in West Nusa Tenggara. The research used cross section data taken from the results of the 2014 Livestock Household Survey (ST2013-STU) conducted by the Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistic. The analytical method used in this study was the stochastic frontier production function. The analysis results of the stochastic frontier production function showed that forage fodder input, concentrates, labour, animal health care and herd size are influential factors on beef cattle production. The average level of technical efficiency of beef cattle farmers in West Nusa Tenggara is 0.705. This shows that the average productivity achieved is 70.5 percent, which means that production can still be increased by 29.5 percent to achieve maximum productivity. The policy to reduce the level of technical inefficiency is by providing facilitation to farmers in order to change their production systems from extensive to intensive or semi-intensive.