Energy and economic analysis of greenhouse strawberry production in Tehran province of Iran

The aims of this study were to determine energy use pattern, to investigate the energy use efficiency, and to make an economical analysis in greenhouse strawberry production in Iran. Data used in this study were obtained from 25 greenhouse strawberry growers using a face to face questionnaire method. The results indicate that greenhouse strawberry production consumed a total energy of 121891.33 MJ ha−1. About 78% of this was generated by diesel fuel, 10% from chemical fertilizers, and 4.5% from electricity. Energy ratio, specific energy, net energy and energy intensiveness of greenhouse strawberry production were 0.15, 12.55 MJ kg−1, −683488.37 MJ ha−1 and 8.18 MJ $−1, respectively. Determination of the efficient allocation of energy resources were modeled by Cobb–Douglas production function. Econometric model evaluation showed the impact of human labor, fertilizers, installation of equipment and transportation costs for strawberry production were all significant at 1% level. The elasticity estimates indicated that among the cost inputs, transportation is the most important input (−0.75) that influences total cost of production, followed by labor (0.31), fertilizers (0.18) and installation of equipments (0.22). The benefit–cost ratio and net return were obtained as 1.74 and 151907.91 $ ha−1, respectively.