Impact of eco-friendly practices on technical efficiency of grafting tomato production: Evidence from tomato growers of Moulvibazar district in Bangladesh

This study examines how eco-friendly farming practices affect the technical efficiency of grafted tomato production in Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh. Primary data was collected from 210 tomato producers using the multistage sampling technique. The collected data was analyzed to estimate technical efficiency and its determinants by employing stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Results found that tomato farmers were about 71% efficient, which implies that tomato production could be increased by nearly 29% if resources and technology were used optimally. The study discovered that while higher input costs lowered productivity, using more land, labor, and tractors helped enhance tomato output. Education, household size, access to training, access to extension services, and experience with grafting improved efficiency, whereas leasing land and earning income from non-farming activities caused a lowering of efficiency. Eco-friendly practices like mixed cropping, using vermicompost, yellow sticky traps, pheromone traps, and mulching films significantly improved efficiency, making farmers 2% to 98% more efficient than those who didn’t adopt these methods. These practices helped better manage inputs, control pests, and maintain healthy soil, boosting both productivity and environmental sustainability. Therefore, promoting eco-friendly tomato production practices through national programs, better extension services, improved credit access, and secure land rights can promote sustainable farming adoption and raise tomato production efficiency.