Eco-Efficiency in Farm Management for Sustainable Agriculture: a Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis in Wheat Production

At present, the sensitivity of economic and ecological balances makes resource use more important. In this context, efficiency is at the focal point in the operations of sectors such as agriculture, where the use of unsustainable inputs is intense and the relative added value is low. A two-stage approach is utilized to assess and set a benchmark for the wheat farmers in Adana, Turkey. The first stage analyses wheat farms and uses Data Envelopment Research (DEA) analysis to explore possible areas of performance improvements for inefficiency. The efficiency scores obtained were reduced over a collection of contextual variables in the second stage to classify the possible sources of inefficiency using the Tobit regression model. Required farm management data were collected from 111 wheat farms via face-to-face interviews in March-July 2019. According to the DEA, results mean TE scores are found as 0.883 which means that the sampled wheat farmers could reach full technical efficiency through reducing their input usage by 11.7% with the current level of technology to produce the same output levels. The results of the Tobit regression model indicate that factors such as farmland ownership, total farm area, and procuring inputs in cash positively influenced the TE, whereas being experienced in wheat farming had a negative effect.

Automated summary

Efficiency assessment of wheat farmers in Adana, Turkey was conducted using Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit regression model, revealing that reducing input usage can increase technical efficiency. Factors such as farmland ownership, total farm area, and procuring inputs in cash positively influence technical efficiency, while experience in wheat farming has a negative effect.