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Abstract
This study measures levels of technical, allocative and
economic efficiency in agricultural crop production for Brazil in 1995.
A nonparametric frontier model (DEA) under constant returns to scale
was used. On average, the results suggest that the sector suffers from
moderate technical inefficiency and from strong allocative inefficiency.
If full technical efficiency were achieved, the crop production would
increase by more than 30% over that obtained in 1995. Land and labor
were overutilized, while fertilizers and pesticides were underutilized.
Climate, soil conditions and irrigation use affected technical efficiency
levels, and education in rural areas helped explain the extent of allocative
efficiency. The state of São Paulo State was the only production unit in
Brazil operating in full efficiency in 1995.