Estimating Technical Efficiency and Technology Gap Ratio in Iranian Dairy Farm, A case Study: Azarbayjane Sharghi, Esfehan, Tehran, Khorasan, Fars and Yazd (Metafrontier Function Approach)

While technical efficiencies of firms that are estimated with respect to a given frontier are comparable, this is not normally valid the case among firms that operate under different technologies. Such problem arises when comparisons of firms from different regions of country are involved. This study uses the concept of the metafrontier function to investigate regional differences in milk production technologies of Iran. Metafrontier function was estimated using non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) and required data are collected from 726 questionnaires. Results of estimating regional frontier production function indicated that, gap between the best producer and other producers in Yazd is minimum and it is maximum in Esfahan. Also estimation of metafrontier production function and technical gap ratio showed that Tehran and Yazd have higher technical operation in comparison with other studied provinces.