Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, May 2019

The hot and brewing industry of coffee in the Philippines, driven by favorable climatic conditions, opens an opportunity to contribute to the rising global coffee demand. However, the supply is unable to meet the demand due to issues such as cutting and pruning of old trees, aging farmers, lack of technical know-how, lack of financial support and lack of facilities in order to provide quality coffee beans. Coping with these issues, some farmers form into groups (organizations, cooperatives or associations) to have better access to assistance while other farmers chose not to. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, this study determines the level of technical efficiency of coffee farmers in Surigao del Sur, and compares technical efficiency between farmers who joined organizations and those who did not. Furthermore, factors causing efficiency is identified using Tobit Regression Analysis. Also, the study determines the types of market outlet that farmers gained most profit from. Results showed that the technical efficiency level of the farmers is at 88 percent and their scale efficiency is at 63 percent. This implies that farmers can still minimize the use of inputs to produce a given level of output. Significant variables affecting technical efficiency are coffee being the farmer's main crop, gender, education, household size, access to credit, trainings, and market outlet for traders. Moreover, farmers under farmer-based organizations have lower efficiency scores than non-members because being in such organizations might consume some of their time. Also, non-member farmers selling to traders have higher net income than others because these two have linkages to bulk up produce in order to reduce cost. Recommendations of this study include provision of scholarships to farming households, conduct of trainings and seminars, and provision of proper facilities (drying, dehulling, depulping, sorting and storage.