MEASUREMENT OF EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTION CAPABILITY OF DURIAN IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

Abstract This study aimed to increase the efficiency and production of durian in Thailand's southern region. An SBM-DEA approach was applied to improve and increase efficiency in durian production, and a Tobit regression analysis was performed to identify factors affecting efficiency. As a result, the technical efficiency of 600 DMUs from the decision-making unit is calculated to average 0.520962. As a result of the findings, it can be concluded that controlling fertilizers and chemicals used to prevent/kill pests could improve the efficiency and production of durian in Southern Thailand. There were four factors found to be statistically significant. The changes in efficiency level could not be affected by variables related to education and membership in agricultural organizations. There is a limitation on data storage. Because durian farmers did not record all the data, this limitation caused a delay in recording the information on the research platform. Control of input variables and increase household size, male farmers, experience unit, and number of times to attend training, respectively. It can raise the high-efficiency score of durian farmers. Durian farmers still need the knowledge to manage their variable factor uses. Significantly, they comprise the technology used in agricultural machinery, information technology systems, and chemical or pesticide knowledge.