Effect of Social Capital on Efficiency and Productivity of Pistachio Producers in Sirjan County of Iran

The yield of pistachio production in Kerman province as the main pistachio pole in Iran is very low compared to rival countries such as the United States. In this research, the condition of pistachio production of some farmers in Sirjan County of this province standing in the second place of production in Kerman province was investigated. Because of annual pistachio production issue, the average data of 2014 and 2015 were used. The emphasis of this study is on the role of social capital as a software tool for increasing efficiency and productivity. The findings showed that the average technical efficiency in the presence of social capital was 0.69. In order to understand the effect of investment in social capital among farmers, the productivity index of Luenberger was calculated based on the directional distance function, which was found to be on order of 12.5 percent. According to the results, farmers and authorities in the agricultural sector should take appropriate measures to improve the situation of farmers by promoting the various dimensions of social capital.