| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 農業經濟學研究所 === 98 === Lishan tea farms are located Hehuan Mountain, about 1,500 to 2,600 meters above sea level. The area was known for temperate fruit trees and high elevation vegetables. Farmers started to grow tea in 1979. They grow primarily Qingxin Oolong. Drastic temperature difference between night and day, short average daytime sunlight exposure, abundant water supply in the mountains, along with fertile soil have made the area known for producing quality tea. Compared to other tea production areas in Taiwan, e.g. Pinglin in northern Taiwan, Lugu in central Taiwan, and Alishan in southern Taiwan, Lishan tea farm is rather new, with few academic studies, especially studies on its production efficiency. Therefore, this study primarily aimed to establish an empirical model for the tea production efficiency at Lishan and explored the degree of influence from external environmental variables with the results to serve as the growers’ reference while the latter establish their production plans in the future.
The study was conducted through questionnaire and interviews to collect data on management status of 29 tea farmers at Lishan. The production efficiency was explored using the three-stage data envelope analysis (DEA). Input items in this study included the cultivation area, fixed manpower, costs of pesticides and fertilizers, tea harvesting cost, tea production cost, etc. Output items in this study were the total production value of fresh tea leaves and dried tea leaves. During the first stage, each producer’s efficiency value was calculated using CCR. Among the producers, only 5 had an efficiency value of 1, indicating that they were at the top of the efficiency list. During the second stage, the stochastic frontier approach (SFA) was used to set the environmental variables, including age of tea trees, altitude, and self-brand, etc. The difference among input items was the explained variable and various environmental variables were the explanatory variables to find out the influence of various environmental factors on the difference. Results showed that establishing self brands significantly and positively contributed to the production efficiency.
Influence from environmental factors and randomized interference were eliminated during the third stage. The efficiency value was again calculated using CCR on the modified input items and the result was compared with the production efficiency obtained during the first stage for any significant difference. By doing this, common characteristics among the most efficient tea farmers were summarized. This empirical study came to a conclusion that tea producers at Lishan followed a benchmark management model to have efficient production. The tea farms were located at an altitude of over 2,500 meters, with the cultivation area covering over 4 hectares. The farmers accumulated their tea growing experiences through long-term management and with complete tea growing infrastructures. They created their own brand and paid attention to package to ensure quality and gain trust from consumers and take charge of the distribution network.
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