Technical efficiency among agricultural households and determinants of food security in East Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Rice is a staple food in East Java, and the average consumption is 100 kg/capita/year. However, rice productivity has declined dramatically in recent years. Food security can be reached by improving the technical efficiency of rice farming, especially in rice farming centers such as East Java Province. This study aims to measure technical efficiency and its determinants using two limit tobit. And it also aims to examine the effect of the technical efficiency of rice farming on food security using logit regression. Technical efficiency will be measured by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results show that the technical efficiency of rice farming is very low in East Java. Government assistance, irrigation, and extension have a significant effect on technical efficiency. Meanwhile, membership of farmer organization has no effect on technical efficiency. Around 69% of farmers can be categorized as food secure households. The estimation of logit regression shows that household size, income, land size, education, age, and gender significantly influence food security in East Java. Meanwhile, credit and technical efficiency did not have any significant effect.