Assessing Production Efficiency of Dairy Farms in Burdur Province, Turkey

This study finds that a sample of 132 dairy farmers located in Burdur Province, Turkey, are producing at a low level of production efficiency. Efficiency ranges from 24 percent to 94 percent, with the average being 50 percent. Eighty one percent of the variation in output among the sampled farmers is due to differences in their production efficiency. If a farmer with average efficiency improved efficiency to that of the most efficient farmer in the sample, then the average dairy farmer could realize a 47 percent saving in cost. Two statistically significant factors associated with the variation in production efficiency are identified: the type of feeding system used and herd size. Use of extension programs explained little of the variation in production efficiency