Evaluating and Comparing the Technical Efficiency of Water Users Association in Maragheh County

The purpose of this study is evaluate and compare technical efficiency of water users association by the approach of the stochastic frontier production function in Maragheh county. Accordingly, for scientific and real understanding of the performance of these associations, the efficiency of productive units is considered. In order to perform this study, the required data were collected through a questionnaire from 147 farmers of Maragheh County. To achieve the aim of this research, stochastic frontier production function was used in which farmers was a function of seed variables, nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer and water. Results showed which average efficiency of producing in wheat fields of the sample is 78.9%. So on these farms with available inputs, there is an average of 21.1% chance to increasing the production. Based on the results, it is observed that in a stochastic frontier production function, nitrogen fertilizers,hosphate fertilizers, water and wheat seeds Variables have a significant effect on wheat production. Also Variables such as age, education, participation in extension courses, marriage and cultivating have a significant effect on technical efficiency. Between studied cases, Varjoy water users association, with average efficiency about 83.07%, has the highest technical efficiency. Therefore, participation in extension courses, adopting measures on land integration and benefiting from the experiences of successful Water Users Association will be an important step towards increasing the efficiency of the Water Users Association studied.