Assessing technical efficiency in traditional olive grove systems: a directional metadistance function approach

Olive growing is the main agricultural activity in Andalusia, although the systems used are far from homogenous. Indeed, technological and natural characteristics have led to the implementation of several growing systems. Our goal is to analyze the efficiency of the two most important systems in Andalusia: traditional rain-fed mountain and plain olive groves. In this paper we not only assess the efficiency of olive farms but also assess the efficiency of farming systems. Additionally, this analysis takes into account the tradittional radial input orientation and also the input-specific efficiency. The results highlight the advantages of the plain olive grove system in front of the mountain olive grove system.