口蹄疫前後臺灣養豬連續記帳戶之成本效率分析

The Cost Efficiency of the Hog Farms Participating in the Record-Keeping Program in Taiwan: Before and After the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak

本文以臺灣動物科技研究所「豬場經營線上管理系統」所蒐集之1995~2008年連續記帳養豬場為樣本，使用隨機邊界法與資料包絡分析法衡量養豬戶之成本效率，同時剖析外在環境對效率的影響。實證結果顯示，隨機邊界法與資料包絡分析法同期邊界的結果較為接近，兩者於1995-2008年之成本效率值平均分別為0.877與0.842，顯示養豬戶一般仍有12.3%~15.8%的成本節省空間，應該朝向調整投入配置來改善。而由跨期邊界之分析結果亦可發現，口蹄疫後成本效率明顯較口蹄疫前降低，而後則隨時間而遞增，顯示口蹄疫事件所帶來的影響較開放進口與飼料價格上漲等外在變動明顯，說明防疫的重要性。內在經營因素之分析則指出，豬場經營者本身的教育程度與經驗年數並未對豬場表現產生正面的幫助，但是經營種豬與肉豬的多角化以及擴大生產規模對於效率提升有正向影響。上述結果說明業者與政府當局，應思考如何讓養豬戶能夠接受到扎實的專業訓練與市場資訊，並用擴大規模與多角化經營來靈活因應市場變化，健全產業之發展。 This study analyzes the cost efficiency of hog industry in Taiwan using the swine farms in the bookkeeping system collected by the Animal Technology Institute Taiwan during 1995~2008 as the sample. The technical and cost efficiency are measured by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The impacts of exogenous factor affecting efficiencies are also investigated simultaneously. The results indicates that the SFA and DEA produce consistent results for each time period and that the mean cost efficiency scores are 0.877 and 0.842 respectively which suggests an 12.3% up to 15.8% cost-saving improvement could be made by reallocating their resource applications. The inter-temporal comparisons suggest that the cost efficiency deteriorates right after the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease, but improves after the accession of WTO and the increase of feed prices. The regression result of farm-specific factors on cost efficiency indicates that both farmer's education level and experience are not significant, but farms producing feeder pigs and hogs simultaneously are more efficient than the others. Expanding farm size is also beneficial to efficiency improvement. Based on these results, it is suggested that training programs on adopting professional knowledge and market information for expansion purposes should be helpful for swine farmers in strengthening their capacity to adapt to the rapid changing environment.

This study analyzes the cost efficiency of hog industry in Taiwan using the swine farms in the bookkeeping system collected by the Animal Technology Institute Taiwan during 1995~2008 as the sample. The technical and cost efficiency are measured by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The impacts of exogenous factor affecting efficiencies are also investigated simultaneously. The results indicates that the SFA and DEA produce consistent results for each time period and that the mean cost efficiency scores are 0.877 and 0.842 respectively which suggests an 12.3% up to 15.8% cost-saving improvement could be made by reallocating their resource applications. The inter-temporal comparisons suggest that the cost efficiency deteriorates right after the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease, but improves after the accession of WTO and the increase of feed prices. The regression result of farm-specific factors on cost efficiency indicates that both farmer's education level and experience are not significant, but farms producing feeder pigs and hogs simultaneously are more efficient than the others. Expanding farm size is also beneficial to efficiency improvement. Based on these results, it is suggested that training programs on adopting professional knowledge and market information for expansion purposes should be helpful for swine farmers in strengthening their capacity to adapt to the rapid changing environment.