Subsidies Reform and the Efficiency of Dairy Farms in Iran: a Comprehensive Evaluation

Subsidies reform in Iran started in 2010 after the implementation of the Targeted Subsidies Plan. Increasing the efficiency and productivity of production units through price realization was a main objective of this policy. However, the resulting spike in input and output prices challenged the achievement of the policy goals. The main purpose of this article is to compare the efficiency of the dairy farms in Iran before and after the Targeted Subsidies Plan was implemented. We used a sample of longitudinal data over the years 1990, 1993, 2000, 2007, 2013, 2016, and 2019 covering 11 regions in 18 provinces and applied stochastic frontier analysis by imposing the monotonicity condition to evaluate efficiency and productivity of the farms. The estimation results show that the unrestricted production frontier is not monotonic in energy and labor. Therefore, imposing a monotonicity condition reduces estimation bias which is critical for policymaking. Unbiased estimation of productive efficiency resulting from imposing the monotonicity condition ranges from 0.72 to 0.86, depending on the region. Results also show a 17% reduction in the production efficiency of the examined dairy farms after the subsidy reform plan which is against the policy goals. The regional differences in the efficiency of intensive dairy farming indicate the need for the more regionally specific supplementary policy, in terms of support schemes and subsidy reforms.