Energy Use Efficiency for Walnut Producers Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

In this paper, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique was subjected for walnut producers in Hamadan province, Iran. The study has helped to segregate efficient farmers from inefficient ones, identify wasteful uses of energy by inefficient producers and to suggest reasonable savings in energy uses from effective sources. Pure technical efficiency was calculated by using DEA-BCC model for orchards area-wise. The results indicated 13 walnut producers were producing at an efficient scale, whereas 24 producers were inefficient. Results also revealed 7745 MJ ha-1 of the total input energy could be saved if the producers follow the input package recommended by the study. The biggest share of energy savings appertain to fertilizers (69% nitrogen). Results of analysis demonstrate that DEA is a suitable tool for analyzing productive efficiency of agricultural units.

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