Relationship Between the Efficiency and Agricultural Sustainability in Potato Farms of Kaboudarahang County

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Today, sustainability of agricultural operations is inevitable in the process of sustainable development. The altogether improvement of Stability and efficiency can increase economic growth in agriculture. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the efficiency and sustainability of potato cultivation in Kaboudarahang. For this purpose, the data from 154 potato cultivators were gathered by completing the questionnaire in the 2015-2016 crop seasons. To determine the sustainability, the Senanayake’s approach and to determine the efficiency of the method, a Stochastic Frontier production function was used. Estimates of technical efficiency of farmers also indicate that the cultivation fields of this product range from 53 to 96 percent of the technical efficiency and their average efficiency is 84 percent. Also, the results from the Senanayake approach indicate that 2.6% of the farms are under the class of completely unstable, 9.8% of the farms are in the unstable class, 72.1% in the middle class, 13.6% in the sustainable class, and 9.1% in a very stable class. Finally, the results of the regression model showed that there is a significant relationship between agricultural sustainability and efficiency. Meanwhile, variables like the farmer's age, literacy level, number of attendances in the educational classes, the type of ownership, and technical efficiency had a positive effect and the main occupation of the cultivator had a negative effect on agricultural sustainability. Therefore, since efficiency has a positive impact on the sustainability of agriculture, adopting measures such as paying attention to ownership, education, participation in educational classes, and experience can strengthen the sustainability of the production system.
 

Keywords


Adeli SardoieM, Hayati B, Zarifian Sh, Hosseini Nasab SD and Mohammad Rezaie R, 2011. Comparison of sustainable agriculture of practices in vegetables of Jiroft county (Case study: onions, potatos and tomatos). Agricultural Science and Sustainable Production, 21(1): 15-28. (In Persian).
Aigner D, Lovell K and Schmidt P, 1977. Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. Journal of Econometrics, 6(1): 21-37.
Asadi A and Varmazyari H, 2010. Assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems. Tousee Sterajec,
21: 261-287. (In Persian).
Ceyhan V, 2010. Assessing the agricultural sustainability of conventional farming systems in Sumsun province of Turkey. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 5(13): 1572-1583.
Dashti Gh, Negahban S and Hayati B, 2015. Relationship between factor productivity and agricultural sustainability in potato farms of Ardabil plain. Agricultural Science and Sustainable Production, 21(2.1): 99-111. (In Persian).
Hoshyar F, 2011. Evaluation of stability of potato cultivation operations and determination of effective factors on it in Ardabil plain. Master's Thesis. Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University. (In Persian).
Koocheki A, Nassiri Mahallati M, Mansoori H and Moradi R, 2015. Assessing agricultural sustainability in Iran by relative advantage approach. Agricultural Economics and Development, 23(90): 29-54. (In Persian).
Manafi M, 2017. Assessment of the sustainability of natural resources and agriculture in East Azarbaijan province using composite indices. Ph.D. Thesis. Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University. (In Persian).
Mehrabi Boshrabadi H and Pakravan MR, 2009. Estimation kinds of efficiency and return to scale of sunflower’s agriculturists of Khoy Township. Agricultural Economics and Development, 23(2): 95-102. (In Persian).
Moradi shahrabadi H and Yazdani S, 2005. Determination of Economic efficiency and effective factors on potato production in Kerman province (case study: Bordsir county). . 5th National Conference of Agricultural Economics. Sistan and Baluchetan University. (In Persian).
Nasiri M, 2014. Study efficiency and sustainability of potato cultivars in Bahar County. Master's Thesis. Faculty of Agriculture, Bu Ali Sina University. (In Persian).
Qamer M, 2002. Global trends in agricultural extension: challenges facing Asia and pacific regions. Keynote paper presented at FAO regional expert consultation on agricultural extension. Banykok, 16-19.
Rasul G and Thapa GB, 2004. Sustainability of ecological and conventional agricultural systems in Bangladesh: an assessment based on environmental, economic and social perspectives. Agricultural Systems, 79: 327–351.
Roy R, Chan NW and Rainis R, 2014. Rice farming sustainability assessment in Bangladesh. Sustainability Science, 9(1):31-44.
Statistical Center of Iran. 2016. Agricultural products statistics. Center for Statistics and Information Technology. (In Persian).
Taghdisi A and Bosshaq MR, 2012. Analysis and evaluation of agriculture sustainability in rural regions and study of farmer's role case study: village regions of Azna Township. Geography , 10(33): 129 -147. (In Persian).
Wasaq Z and Parafiniuk S, 2015. Ecological and sustainability of agricultural production in the Roztocze region. Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia, 7: 287-291.   
Yavari S, 2010.  The relationship between technical efficiency and size of broiler poultry units in Sonqor and Kalei County. Master's Thesis. Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University. (In Persian).