Evaluation of rapeseed production efficiency in Iran

Rapeseed is a product that has a significant role in ensuring food security in the country. Its share of total crop production was reported to be 0.49% in previous years (2006-2007) but now stands at 0.41%. According to the Sixth Five Year Plan of Economic, Social and Cultural Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran it is necessary to increase the production of rapeseed from 146 thousand tons in the crop year 2013-2014 to 934 thousand tons in the crop year 2020-2021. The production of this product during the first two years of the program (2017 and 2018, respectively) was 181.1 and 329.8 thousand tons, respectively, which were 46.9 and 41.2 thousand tons less than the stated targets, respectively. While quantifying the goals of development plans does not address the production priorities at the farm level, it is certainly possible to increase the likelihood and speed of achieving the goals at hand by establishing greater coordination between objectives at different levels of decision-making. Although policy priorities are always increasing the production but the farmer, besides the anticipated production considers the costs of production and profitability, too.Ghaderzadeh and Pirmohammadian (2019) investigated energy efficiency in potato fields of Hamadan province. Based on the findings, the mean technical, managerial and scale efficiencies were 74.8%, 94.1% and 90.4%, respectively, indicating that it was possible to improve energy efficiency by managing inputs usage, especially fertilizers and seeds. In the current study, the technical, allocative, cost, income, and profit efficiencies of rapeseed were analyzed using information from 14 province. In this research, the efficiency of rapeseed production in the major provinces of this crop has been investigated using data envelopment analysis approach from different aspects. For this purpose, first, the technical, allocative and cost efficiency of production was calculated by country provinces and then the optimal amount of input consumption in different stages of preparation, planting, Maintenance and harvesting was calculated and compared with current consumption values. Then, after determining income efficiency, profit efficiency and estimating the internal rate of return on investment in rapeseed production, it was investigated the relationship between the variables under study using correlation coefficient (Coelli et al., 2005). WinQSB, COMFAR and SPSS softwares were used in the study.Based on the results, the mean technical, allocative and cost efficiencies for the yield index were 0.90, 0.75, and 0.69, respectively, and for the income index, 0.91, 0.76, and 0.70, respectively. In order to improve the cost efficiency if the yield goal was to be achieved, the cost allocated to renting, preparing, planting and maintains should be reduced by 51.10%, 12.95%, 41.09% and 34.61% respectively, and the cost of harvesting could be increased by 2.77%. If income was the top priority, then, with the exception of land preparation, there was a need to plan for cost savings with priority for rent (4.05 million Rials) and planting (3.10 million Rials). According to the calculations, the average yield could be increased from 1885 to 2574 kg/ha, which was a 37% increase in production. This improvement could lead to an increase in revenue of 13 million Rials (32%) per hectare of rapeseed. The average earnings efficiency was calculated 0.81 units, indicating a 19% gap with the optimal rate. Currently, the average profitability of rapeseed farming is 15 million Rials per hectare, which can be increased by up to 71 Million Rials, which is equivalent to 386 percent improvement. The actual profit and profit efficiency were negative in Markazi, Hormozgan, Qazvin and North Khorasan provinces, but overall profit efficiency is 17% and was significantly different from optimal. Kerman, East Azerbaijan and Lorestan provinces had the highest profit efficiency in rapeseed farming with 80, 55 and 41 percent, respectively. The same was also reflected in the index of internal rate of return as the provinces with 888%, 325% and 278% were the most suitable areas for rapeseed agriculture development. The results of correlation coefficient showed that there was no significant relationship between technical efficiency and profitability. According to the results, the production structure in the provinces of Markazi, Hormozgan, Qazvin and North Khorasan needs to be revised and Kerman, East Azerbaijan and Lorestan provinces are introduced as central zones of rapeseed development in the country.