Analysis of technical and managerial solutions to improve fuel efficiency in agricultural conversion and complementary industries in Kermanshah province

Agricultural transformation and supplementary industries are one of the most important rural industries. The purpose of this research was to identify technical and managerial solutions to improve fuel efficiency in the conversion and complementary industries in Kermanshah province. Descriptive survey method was used in this research. A questionnaire used to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of faculty member and related experts. Pre-test and calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used to measure the reliability (0.71-0.94). Managers of agricultural transformation and supplementary industries units in Kermanshah province formed the population of this study (N=69) and 46 samples were selected using stratified random sampling. Based on exploratory factor analysis, the most important technical solutions to improve fuel efficiency in the agricultural conversion and supplementary industries of Kermanshah province was summarized in six factors including continuous updating of equipment, strengthening the use of equipment to reduce energy loss, automation of ventilation machines, technical management of systems, replacement of fuel with gas and periodical service of equipment. These factors explained 76.14 percent of the total variance of technical solutions. Management solutions to improve fuel efficiency were also summarized in four factors: investment in optimization and renovation, education and information, targeted government interventions with an optimization approach and reforming energy price policies, which explained 75.52% of the total variance of management solutions.