Assessment of productive efficiency for irrigated and dryland wheat farming in Iran using Data Envelopment Analysis

Wheat is widely grown in Iran as a staple food; therefore, the government there encourages farmers to produce wheat (a common agricultural enterprise) by increasing farm productivity and efficiency. The study compares the efficiency of wheat production for dryland (low input) and irrigated (high input) systems across Iranian provinces by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The average technical efficiency of the inefficient provinces was calculated as 80 per cent; that is, 20 per cent of overall resources could be saved by raising the performance of provinces to the highest level. Results showed that South Khorasan and Kurdistan provinces are the most efficient provinces in irrigated and dryland wheat production, respectively. In both irrigated and dryland cultivation, marginal areas were found to be significantly more efficient, whereas no significant differences were observed in wheat efficiency between distinct climate zones. OR Insight (2011) 24, 215–230. doi:10.1057/ori.2011.18