Investigation of Energy Indices and Energy Consumption Optimization for Peach Production- Case Study: Saman Region in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province

As one of the most important conditions in sustainable agriculture, optimization of energy consumption in agriculture is necessary in order to reduce the production cost and saving non renewable resources as well as reduction of air pollutants. In this regard, this study was conducted in Saman region, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province. A linear programming based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used for optimization of energy consumption in peach production in order to increase the technical efficiency. By performing a linear regression analysis, some inputs including animal fertilizer, pesticide, human labor and machinery had no significant influence on product yield, while some other inputs including fuel, electricity, water and chemical fertilizer showed a significant effect on the product yield. Therefore, the latter inputs and the product yield were considered as the inputs and output, respectively. Selecting the BCC model (efficiency to variable scale model of input nature) and using DEA Solver software, efficient and inefficient farmers were determined. The efficient farmers had the technical efficiency of unit (one) and the inefficient farmers had this value within 0.47-0.94. Also, the technical efficiency of inefficient farmers was computed as 0.74. This means that using 74% of the inputs and keeping the current yield, the inefficient farmers can approach to the efficiency limit. Total technical efficiency of all farmers was found to be 0.82. Based on the results, the maximum value of inefficiency belonged to electricity energy with 65.32%.