Poultry Value Chain Performance Measurement Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis in Mozambique, Maputo Region

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article concerns the cost-effectiveness of poultry producers in the Maputo region. The selected methods and sample selection seem to be sufficient. The article has important conclusions not only for poultry producers but also for other participants of the economic environment, such as those providing agricultural advisory services.

However, the article needs corrections:

- The bibliography needs to be supplemented with newer literature items. There is only 1 article from 2020.

- The text needs to be adapted to the requirements of the journal.

- Line 4- here you need to add the name of the country (Mozambique)

- Line 12- 2000 of what? The need for a name

- Item 2.3.- Literature review should be as recent as possible. Items from 1989, 1990, 2016 can hardly be considered the latest.

- Table 1 - what is MT? what the variables are expressed in (the abbreviation for each variable should be explained under the table)

Best regards

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for the comments which will be useful to improve the present article. The comments were all addressed as they are clearly identified with the required improvements.

We will address each concern as expressed in order:

1. We recognize the need for a new literature review. We found few studies which are related to poultry and very few addressing the poultry sector in Mozambique. For use SFA, there are very few papers focusing on the field of agriculture. 
2.  The manuscript is already presented in the journal template and probably the editors will addressed that issue once the paper is accepted for publication.
3. Reviewed, and can kindly check in the uploaded manuscript.
4. Reviewed, can also be checked on the uploaded mauscript.
5. Fully agree with you. There are also articles from 22 (2016) and 23 (2019) which are a bit recent and are addressing Poultry and use of SFA on the sector.
6. As mentioned in point 1, the available studies on the use of SFA for the agriculture sector are rare. In this section the purpose was to bring the empirical studies which applied SFA for the agricultural sector to appropriate the methodological framework.

Best regards 

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors, The study contains an interesting description of the factors affecting the efficiency of poultry production. In particular, interesting conclusions concern the impact of factors related to trade agreements, management capabilities, etc.
There are, however, some general remarks regarding the study, which I present below.
1. In the abstract, it is worth a bit to expand the description of the results, particularly regarding which factors turned out to have a significant impact on efficiency, and which did not, and why. Based on the abstract, many readers judge whether the article is worth reading.

2. In line 12 it says "producing more 2000". There are no units and information whether it is 2000 chickens in one cycle or in another period.

3. In the introduction section (and in the discussion of the results), the issue of factors affecting efficiency should be addressed a little more, including the scale of production, government policy and advice, the efficiency of the market mechanism, etc. The current literature should also be reviewed. Currently, there are only four items from the last five years. It can also be literature on the use of SFA and DEA techniques. Here are some useful papers: https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030721; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030718; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10121874; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113819, https://doi.org/10.4018/JGIM.320815

4.  Line 155 - is there only total variable cost analyzed or total costs (including part of depreciation or rents paid).
5. lines 229-232 - what is the source of this quote?
6. line 270 et seq. - specify how the test objects were selected. Is it a convenient sample or a sample selected according to some object selection technique? Why were these objects selected and not others? Does their structure reflect the structure of poultry producers?
7. in table 1 indicate the units of measurement. The source under table 1 states that the research is from 2020, and in line 270-271 that it is from 2020 and 2021
8. Table 4 may be in the appendix. It's voluminous and doesn't add anything. So what if the F11 farm has the best results? It's not an object with a name, like a country or some big company with a famous name, so you can't take an example from such an object and how it works.

9. There is no section 4 in the text.

10. In the summary, indicate what the recommendations for manufacturers may be, especially when it has not been established that market integration is not important for efficiency. Also, add what limitations the research results are subject to.

When describing the data sources or at the end of the study, specify what the limitations of the work are. E.g. Is the sample random or even representative of the situation in Maputo poultry production?

Overall, the study is interesting. It brings additional knowledge about the functioning of poultry farmers. The method is appropriate for the answers sought. The weaker side of the work is an incomplete review of current research results and a laconic description of the data collection process.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 

Thank you for the comments which will be useful to improve the present article. The comments are all addressed in the new version of the manuscript as we strongly believe that they are all to improve the present article and have it usefully for the society.

We will address each review note as expressed in order, starting by the first note onwards.

1. Reviewed, refer a new version of the manuscript in attachment;
2. Reviewed, it is 2000 chickens per cycle of production 
3. Although there is no specific section of discussion, some of the aspects were part of review. The government policy is part of extension services, most of the producers are using the private technical assistance meaning that the government is not assisting properly the value chain as considered one of the priority value chain in the country. Marketing mechanisms are also addressed in the present article as there clearly mentioned the arrangement systems which are closely related to marketing systems - refer one of the components of the factors affecting efficiency is the commercial agreements...
4. The study considers total costs as it includes depreciations and even other fixed costs are taken into consideration.
5. Own quote which is based on the several authors which have nothing written;
6. Reviewed. In the new version it is now clear. We described who are the producers clearly and added the classification of producers as well according to size (Small scale and large scale producers) and market arrangement systems (producers in Integrated and producers in independent)
7. There was mistake and it was revised. In fact the study was conducted during Sep 2020 to Mar 2021 (7 cycles of production of poultry)
8. Not revised - we decided to maintain the table in the main text as it can indicate clearly the comparison made between the star performers and those operating below the mean efficiency
9. There was mistake considering the section of conclusions as 5 while there is no section 4, and it is now corrected

Best regards 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The first thing is to congratulate the authors for the originality of the work and all the knowledge they contribute from it. In my opinion, you have to rewrite the keywords to remove the compound ones and reduce them. In the introduction, the main objective of the work must be identified, which is presumed in the title, as well as some secondary objective derived from it. You cannot skip the introduction to materials and methods, you have to open a section for the theoretical framework, which is later mentioned when they explain the methodology. In the figures and tables it is necessary to put the authorship if it is own elaboration, it is put. It skips to the methodology without establishing hypotheses, H1, H2…etc. The data is poorly explained. A section called “discussion of results” must be included in which the results obtained are compared with those of the literature review papers. It would be convenient to include more international jcr bibliography.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 

Thank you for the reviewing not which will contribute to the improvement of our article and hence making it understandable and relevant to the society with significant possible impact for the development of the poultry in Mozambique.

We will address the comments as per the suggested order:

1. The key words are reviewed and can quickly check on the revised manuscript which is attached;
2. The objects are also included and can be checked here in the attachment;
3. We added a very quick empirical of use of SFA in the agriculture sector which was to give a brief on what exist to be used as reference for the present article. It is on the section 2.3;
4. Revised and can be checked on the attached manuscript
5. This was now clearly addressed; the data is now explained, and the units of the variables are also presented.

Best regards