| Summary: | This study examined several possible factors determining the profitability of small scale
crop farmers in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Industrial/urban influence on profit
efficiency was tested by the creation of a special variable (IFOUR). This variable along with
farming and socio-economic variables were incorporated into a translog augmented
stochastic profit frontier. The significance of coefficients was tested as well as the
calculation of the elasticity of profit with respect to the wage rate. The study found a
significant negative impact of wage rates on profitability. Also the age of the farmer
negatively affected profitability, while the number of years farming had a positive effect. This
latter variable also significantly influenced both the one-sided error and idiosyncratic error
terms. However IFOUR measuring industrial/urban influence did not significantly affect the
profitability. The farmers had a mean profit efficiency of 48.4%, which was low in
international comparisons.
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