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Drivers of Productivity Change in the Italian Tomato Food Value Chain

Author

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  • Lukáš Čechura

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Antonella Samoggia

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum—Universita di Bologna (UNIBO), Viale Fanin 50, 40125 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

This study evaluated productivity dynamics and identified sources of productivity growth in Italian tomato production and processing. We used a stochastic frontier input distance function with four error components—heterogeneity, statistical noise, persistent and transient inefficiency—and a four-step estimation procedure with a system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator in the first step to address the endogeneity problem. The results reveal significant differences in the productivity and efficiency of tomato production and processing. Moreover, there are considerable differences among the different sizes of tomato producers, with the main variations observed for scale efficiency. While tomato processors operate at an optimal production size, tomato producers are characterized by considerable economies of scale, especially small producers. These results thus suggest that there is significant opportunity for technical efficiency improvements at both stages of the value chain. Finally, due to improvements made to scale efficiency, extensive productivity growth was observed for the group of small tomato producers.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukáš Čechura & Zdeňka Žáková Kroupová & Antonella Samoggia, 2021. "Drivers of Productivity Change in the Italian Tomato Food Value Chain," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:10:p:996-:d:655063
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Angelo Martella & Ilenia Maria La Porta & Marco Nicastro & Elisa Biagetti & Silvio Franco, 2023. "Ecological Balance of Agri-Food Supply Chains—The Case of the Industrial Tomato," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-12, May.
    4. David Barling & Antonella Samoggia & Gudrun Olafsdottir, 2022. "Dynamics of Food Value Chains: Resilience, Fairness and Sustainability," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-5, May.
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