Intraregional Efficiency of Production Decisions and Interregional Efficiency of Input Use in Bolivian Agriculture

The main objectives of this study were to analyze the efficiency with which Bolivian farmers utilize productive resources as they combine them in crop production and to examine the possibility of interregional resource immobility in the production of agricultural products. Bolivia was divided into seven distinct production regions called departments. A linear program maximizing model was generated for the major crops produced in each department. Land, labor, irrigation, and capital were the input coefficients used in the models. They produced a net return to management, land, and fixed costs associated with land. The linear program using these coefficients generated the profit maximizing hectare combination for each crop by department. These were compared with those reported to have been grown in each department to make an efficiency judgement of production decisions made by Bolivian farmers. The same department linear programs generated value marginal products for resources in short supply in each model . These were compared interdepartmentally to determine any resource immobility that might be in existence. Analysis of the linear program maximizing output indicated that in all of the departments considered, with the exception of Santa Cruz, farmers appeared to be efficiently combining their resources in the production of crops considered in this study. It was also noted that a possible labor immobility existed between the Santa Cruz department and the other six considered