Production function for livestock and technical efficiency in the Northeast Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the livestock production function of the Brazilian Northeast and its technical efficiency, based on the agriculture and livestock Census of 2017. To this end, the econometric method for stochastic frontier analysis was applied, with the representation of Cobb-Douglas production function with inefficiency. The livestock production function in the Brazilian Northeast depends mainly on input expenses, followed by employed persons, capital, and area. Municipalities located in the non-semiarid region are more efficient than their semiarid region counterparts. In addition, as for the variables that account for technical inefficiency, the parameters rural credit and precipitation exert a positive effect and help minimize the productive inefficiency.