Technical efficiency and traceability information transfer: Evidence from grape producers of four provinces in China

Abstract

This paper attempts to estimate the technical efficiency of grape producers using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) approach as well as survey data of 1388 farmers in Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong and Xinjiang Province in China, and clarify the relationship between technical efficiency and traceability information transfer. The results show that technical efficiency of grape producers ranges from 0.8 to 0.9 with a stable but low distribution; input of land and physical makes a great contribution to the increase of rural income which is followed by input of labor and agricultural machine; the level of technical efficiency has a significant impact on the traceability information transfer in the way that the higher the technical efficiency is, the higher the willingness for participants to transfer the traceability information will be. Therefore, the technical efficiency of grape producers should be increased to establish the grape traceable system, ensure the safety of grape products and improve the development of grape industry.