Energy input-output and study on energy use efficiency for wheat production using DEA technique

ABSTRACT:This study applied a non-parametric method to analyze the efficiency of farmers, discriminate efficient farmers from inefficient ones and to identify wasteful uses of energy in order to optimize the energy inputs for wheat production in Gorve country, Kordestan province of Iran. The data used in this study was obtained through a face to- face questionnaire method in the surveyed region. The results indicated that total energy inputs were 42998.44 MJha-1. About 60% of this was generated by electricity fuel and 16% from total fertilizer. Two basic DEA models (CCR and BCC) were used to measure the TEs of the farms based on seven energy inputs and one output. The average values of TE and PTE farms were found to be 90.09 and 97.44, respectively. Moreover, energy saving target ratio for wheat production was calculated as 10%, indicating that by following the recommendations resulted from this study, about 4626 MJ ha-1 of total input energy could be saved while holding the constant level of wheat yield.