Based on cross section data of 30 Oyster mushroom farms in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province, this study estimated their technical efficiency level by using output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical results indicate that Oyster mushroom farms should expand their current level of output from 9 to 17% to be efficient. Moreover, it also reveals that technical inefficiency of Oyster mushroom in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province was mainly due to scale inefficiency. Most of farms should increase their current scale to improve their technical efficiency. | Hue University Journal of Science ISSN 1859-1388 Vol. 113, No. 14, 2015, pp. 17-21 TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF OYSTER MUSHROOM PRODUCTION IN DONG HA CITY, QUANG TRI PROVINCE: AN APPLICATION OF OUTPUT ORIENTED DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS Ton Nu Hai Au*, La ThiThuy Dung College of Economics, Hue University Abstract: Based on cross section data of 30 oyster mushroom farms in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province, this study estimated their technical efficiency level by using output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The empirical results indicate that oyster mushroom farms should expand their current level of output from 9 to 17% to be efficient. Moreover, the results also reveal that technical inefficiency of oyster mushroom in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province was mainly due to scale inefficiency. Most of the farms should increase their current scale to improve their technical efficiency. Keywords: Technical efficiency, oyster mushroom, output oriented DEA 1 Introduction Cultivating mushrooms, especially Oyster mushroom on straw and sawdust in Dong Ha city of Quang Tri province, has been being considered as a mean of not only taking advantage of by-products of agriculture but also giving job opportunities and increasing returns for the farmers [2]. However, up to now, this model has been developed spontaneously and experientially in this area [6]. Many questions such as: whether the farmers could attain the level of production they should be comparing to the best practice farms, what their technical efficiency levels are, and how many percent of output should be expanded without using more input have still not been answered. Using output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis, this paper aims to answer the above questions by estimating the technical efficiency of oyster mushroom farms in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province. 2 Data and Methodology Data Primary data of this research were based on farm level cross-section data of oyster mushroom in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri .
