Analysing Technical Efficiency and Determinants of Watermelon Farms in Tembila, Besut, Terengganu

This paper attempts to determine the level of technical efficiency on watermelon farms and subsequently investigate the factors affecting the technical efficiency scores of watermelon farms in Tembila, Besut. Data was collected from a survey that randomly selects 50 watermelon farmers between June and September 2023. For the first step, this study uses data envelopment analysis to measure the technical efficiency scores on a sample. For the second step, a truncated regression model was used to explain the factors affecting technical efficiency. The results show that Tembila watermelon farmers could save 27% of their input in order to produce the same amount of output. This finding suggests that there is room for improvement in terms of managing inputs among watermelon farmers. The result also shows that farmers' education and experience have a positive relationship with technical efficiency, whereas off-farm income has a negative relationship with technical efficiency. Our results suggest that the Malaysian government should provide training programs in order to improve efficiency.