Determinants of Post-Harvest Efficiency and Losses among Smallholder Lakatan Banana Farmers in Bukidnon, Philippines: Evidence from Fractional Logit and Two-Part Econometric Models

Post-harvest losses remain a major constraint to agricultural productivity, farm profitability, and food system efficiency, particularly in developing countries where inadequate post-harvest management and limited access to technologies contribute to substantial product deterioration. Despite the economic importance of Lakatan banana production in the Philippines, empirical evidence on the determinants of post-harvest efficiency and loss dynamics at the farm level remains limited. This study examined post-harvest efficiency and the determinants of post-harvest losses among Lakatan banana farmers in Valencia City and Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. Using cross-sectional data from 205 randomly selected farmers, the study employed a fractional logit model to analyze post-harvest efficiency and a two-part econometric framework consisting of a logistic regression model and a Gamma generalized linear model (GLM) to separately examine the occurrence and magnitude of post-harvest losses. Results showed that average post-harvest losses amounted to 148.45 kg per harvest, representing approximately 12.5% of total production, while mean post-harvest efficiency reached 87.49%. Fractional logit estimates revealed that gender, fertilizer application, and source of planting materials significantly influenced post-harvest efficiency. Female farmers exhibited higher efficiency levels, whereas excessive fertilizer application reduced efficiency. Farmers obtaining planting materials from external sources achieved significantly higher efficiency than those relying on self-sourced suckers. Logistic regression results indicated that gender, educational attainment, farm location, farming system, and fertilizer application significantly affected the probability of experiencing post-harvest losses. Conditional on positive losses, the Gamma GLM revealed that gender, farm size, farm location, fertilizer application, and farmgate price significantly influenced loss magnitude. Farmers located in Impasug-ong incurred substantially greater losses, while higher farmgate prices were associated with lower loss severity. The findings highlight the importance of farmer characteristics, input management, market incentives, and location-specific conditions in shaping post-harvest outcomes and underscore the need for targeted interventions to improve post-harvest management and reduce losses among smallholder Lakatan banana farmers.

Lakatan banana; post-harvest efficiency; post-harvest losses; fractional logit model; two-part models

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