Eficiência técnica na produção de milho no Piauí: análise de heterogeneidade por macrorregiões

Abstract

Corn production is one of the most important for the Brazilian and world economy. The cereal is used fresh for consumption, as well as being raw material for production processes related to the pharmaceutical, food and feed industries and for the production of ethanol fuel. In Piauí, corn production has expanded since 2022, so that the State is the second largest producer in the Northeast, second only to Bahia. In the same year, Piauí produced 2,591,483 tons of grain, generating 3.15 billion reais. This dissertation, therefore, aims to analyze the performance of corn production and its conditioning factors in the environmental macroregions of the State of Piauí. It starts from the concept of productive heterogeneity, related to the way in which economic agents combine inputs in the production process. Specifically, the study aims to: characterize the heterogeneity of corn production by macro-region of Piauí in the period from 1970 to 2017; measure the level of technical efficiency in corn production for each macro-region of Piauí; and identify the most efficient and least efficient macro-regions. The hypothesis raised by the essay is that corn production in the macro-regions of Piauí denotes productive heterogeneity. With this aim, the stochastic production metafrontier (MFP) approach was used to compare the levels of technical efficiency between macro-regions. Macro-regional stochastic boundaries are established, and then the MFP model is defined, establishing hypothesis tests using the Likelihood Ratio (LR) with the aim of verifying the adequacy of the functional manner and the existence of technological distinctions between the regional borders. The results point to the occurrence of productive heterogeneities between the macro-regions (Coast, Cerrado, Mid-North and Semiarid) in corn production in the period from 1970/1973 to 2017. It was observed that corn production in Piauí shifted from municipalities in the semi-arid region of the state to those belonging to the Cerrado, over the 47 years analyzed. The most technically efficient macro-region for the aforementioned period was the Cerrado macro-region, accompanied by municipalities belonging to the Mid-North of Piauí. The least efficient municipalities were in the semi-arid macro-regions. Furthermore, efficiency heterogeneity was identified between macro-regions and between municipalities that make up the same macro-region, denoting different technical efficiency scores. Therefore, Piauí proved to be heterogeneous in corn cultivation, with more efficient and less efficient macro-regions and municipalities coexisting in the same space.