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Abstract
The irrigation programs started in the late 60’s were chiefly
responsible for the impressive development occurred in the Petrolina/Juazeiro
areas. Along with irrigation, came some agricultural enterprises
that had been previously dedicated to other economic activities such as
extensive cattle production. The main hypothesis of this study is that modern
technology used in irrigation, combined with input usage, allow for
a production level near or at the production frontier. Preliminary studies
concluded that there is heterogeneity among enterprises, where similar
technological packages are used and fruit production is the dominant
production. Therefore, this study analyzes technical efficiency of agricultural
enterprises in the studied area using a Translog function model to
attain an efficient frontier. Results show that the model has significant
efficiency scores. The comparative analysis among main irrigation areas
shows that most of the efficient firms are located in the government delimited
irrigation areas of Nilo Coelho and Maniçoba or outside delimited
irrigation areas.