Objective  The changes of rice production efficiency taken place in Taiwan from 2002 to 2016 were analyzed.

  Method   The production data were compared according to the data envelopment analysis, Malmquist productivity index, and grey relational analysis.

  Result   The mean rice production efficiency in Taiwan during the period was 0.970, and that for the 1^st season was 0.974, slightly higher than that of 0.966 for the 2^nd season. There were variations among the localities with the highest of 1.000 achieved in Yilan County, Hsinchu County/City, Changhua County, Chiayi County/City, and Taitung County. The efficiency also fluctuated substantially, as the productivity index for the 1^st season to be 0.987 with an annual decline of 1.3% and that for the 2^nd season to be 0.955 with an annual decline of 4.5%. The correlation between the efficiency and technological advancement had a coefficient of 0.746 9 for the 1^st season and 0.893 2 for the 2^nd season. Whereas, that between the efficiency and operational effectiveness had a coefficient of 0.583 2 for the 1^st season and 0.605 6 for the 2^nd season. Thus, it appeared that the technological progress affected the rice production efficiency to a greater degree.

  Conclusion   The rice production in Taiwan was highly efficient but differed regionally and showed a generally downward trend. Its efficiency changed over the years due largely to the technical innovation, which, along with policy augments, partially compensated the scope of the otherwise decline.