Investigating the environmental convergence of production factors among beet growers in selected provinces of Iran

Due to the various uses, sugar beet is of economic and commercial importance in today's world. Regarding that this crop is the raw material of sugar factories, the government has recently paid a particular attention to its production. The main aim of this study was to specify environmental convergence of production factors among sugar beet growers in the country during the 2013-2017 years. The required data retrieved from the statistical reports of Ministry of Agriculture Jihad and then were analyzed using GAMZ2.1 and Ewiews9 software. For this purpose, the standard technical efficiency and the environmental technical efficiency of the sugar beet factors were first calculated using the data envelop analysis model of the window data under the conditions of variable return to scale. Consequently, the environmental convergent of sugar beet production factors was examined through the Dickie Fuller test. The findings showed that the average standard technical efficiency and environmental efficiency were 0.76 and 0.67, respectively. With regard to the average level of technical efficiency of the environment, it can be concluded that there is an environmental inefficiency in these provinces. Based on these results and further investigation of upon the efficiency and transferring these results to the provincial farms using agricultural extension and education system and supportive polices, the technical efficiency of the environment in production of this strategic crop can be increased. Environmental convergence tests showed that environmental convergence of production factors exists in the all studied provinces. It means that all sugar beet growers have a tendency to increase the technical and environmental efficiency of production factors. Given the issue of environmental pollution in the present century, this conclusion is very promising for future generations in terms of protection of the environment. Promoting and disseminating new technologies including pressurized irrigation systems and minimizing the application of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are among the policy solutions to increase the technical efficiency of the environment in the provinces dealing with the issue of environmental efficiency