Agriculture remains a dominant economic sector in many developing countries. Rice constitutes a staple food for more than half of the world's population and is the main meal of all Lao people (FAO, 2005). However, rice production faces many problems, including the effects of floods, drought and poor soil quality. These challenges combine to reduce rice productivity below what might be possible. However, before new agricultural policies are put in place, it is important to identify the factors associated with rice production efficiency. This thesis analyses technical and socio-economic factors that influence rice production and estimates the level of technical efficiency of individual rice farmers in Ban Home, Laos. / Survey data were collected in the region in 2003, for both wet season and dry season rice production. Using these data, a Cobb-Douglas frontier production function was estimated for each season using two approaches, deterministic and stochastic. During the wet season, several factors were statistically significant and positive in their effect on rice yield: area in rice production, level of fertilizer use, total labour, the use of a modern variety, sandy soil and contact with a professional agricultural advisor. During the dry season, only area in rice production and fertilizer were significant. Based on the frontier production functions, it is possible to conclude that the average technical efficiency of farmers is higher during the dry season than the wet season, for both the deterministic and stochastic approaches. / However, socio-economic factors were unable to explain the level of technical efficiency among farmers, when evaluated using a standard regression approach. By using a simple t-test to compare the mean level of efficiency of different groups of farmers, some significant differences emerged. Farmers who used credit were found to be more efficient than those who did not. Moreover, experienced farmers were more efficient than less experienced farmers. Also, farmers with less than 7 years of education were more efficient than more educated farmers.

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