Energy use efficiency in greenhouse tomato production in Iran

Efficient use of energy in agriculture is one of the conditions for sustainable production. In the present study energy use pattern for tomato production in Iran was investigated and a non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique was applied to analyze the technical and scale efficiencies of farmers with respect to energy use for crop production. The energy use pattern indicated that diesel, electricity and chemical fertilizers are the major energy consuming inputs for tomato production in the region. Moreover, the results of DEA application revealed that of the average pure technical, technical and scale efficiencies of farmers were 0.94, 0.82 and 0.86, respectively. Also the results revealed that by adopting the recommendations based on the present study, on an average, about 25.15% of the total input energy could be saved without reducing the tomato yield.

► We used DEA technique to determine the efficiencies of farmers with regard to energy use in tomato production activities.
► The pure technical efficiency, technical efficiency and scale efficiency were found to be 0.94, 0.82 and 0.86, respectively.
► 25.15% of the total input energy could be saved without reducing the tomato yield.