<![CDATA[This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of independent oil palm farming, examine the effects of production factors on oil palm production, and evaluate the technical efficiency of independent oil palm farming in Sekernan District, Muaro Jambi Regency, Indonesia. The study employed a survey method involving 95 independent oil palm farmers as respondents. Both primary and secondary data were utilized in this research. The production function was estimated using the Cobb-Douglas production function with the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) approach, while technical efficiency was analyzed using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) with the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method. The production factors examined included land area, labor, NPK fertilizer, urea fertilizer, herbicide, and plant age. The results revealed that independent oil palm farming in the study area is managed independently by smallholder farmers, although the utilization of production inputs has not yet been fully optimized. Partially, NPK fertilizer, herbicide, and plant age had a significant positive effect on oil palm production, whereas land area, labor, and urea fertilizer did not significantly affect production. The average technical efficiency score was 0.8858 (88.58%), indicating that independent oil palm farming had achieved a relatively high level of technical efficiency. However, there remains an opportunity to improve technical efficiency by approximately 11.42% through better allocation and utilization of production inputs. These findings provide empirical evidence that improving input management can enhance both productivity and technical efficiency, thereby supporting the sustainable development of independent oil palm farming.]]>
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