title: Measuring efficiency of cotton cultivation in Pakistan: a restricted production frontier study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Massive groundwater pumping for irrigation has started lowering water tables rapidly in different regions of Pakistan. Declining water tables have thus prompted research efforts to improve agricultural productivity and efficiency to make efficient use of scarce water resources. This study employs a restricted stochastic production frontier to estimate the level of, and factors affecting, technical efficiency of groundwater-irrigated cotton farms in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean technical efficiency estimates indicate substantial technical inefficiencies among cotton growers. On average, tube-well owners and water buyers can potentially increase cotton production by 19% and 28%, respectively, without increasing the existing input level. The most influential factors affecting technical efficiency positively are the use of improved quality seed, consultation with extension field staff and farmers' perceptions concerning the availability of groundwater resources for irrigation in the future.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study proposes that adopting improved seed for new cotton varieties and providing better extension services regarding cotton production technology would help to achieve higher efficiency in cotton farming. Within the context of falling water tables, educating farmers about the actual crop water requirements and guiding them about groundwater resource availability may also help to achieve higher efficiencies. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.
authors.affiliation: School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, The University of Western Australia M089, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia; The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Arif
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Watto
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mugera
mesh_terms: D057914:Agricultural Irrigation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D003368:Gossypium / Q000502:physiology*; D060587:Groundwater; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010154:Pakistan; D013269:Stochastic Processes
keywords: restricted and unrestricted translog production function; stochastic frontier analysis; technical efficiency of cotton