Efficiency Assessment of Vertical Hydroponic Greenhouse of Red-leaf Lettuce Production Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Alborz Province of Iran

This study is aimed at evaluating the efficiency of 23 greenhouses of red-leaf lettuce using the vertical hydroponic method based on the data envelopment Analysis (DEA) method in Alborz province of Iran. The assessment results indicated high profitability of red-leaf lettuce farming so that the production cost of each bush would be less than 15000 IRI rials while the sale price of each bush would be nearly 100000 IRI rials. In this study, four main inputs including workforce, secondary capital for conversion of the ordinary greenhouse into vertical hydroponic structure, fertilizer, and other costs were assumed as the model inputs and the net profit was considered as the output of the model that should be increased. Considering the technical efficiency and scale efficiency, the return-to-scale ratio of the efficient greenhouses was constant while most of the inefficient greenhouses had an increasing return-to-scale ratio. The efficiency analysis showed that the inefficient greenhouses were small greenhouses with an area smaller than 1000 square meters, which should increase their area and save on the consumption of the mentioned inputs in order to achieve higher efficiency and change into efficient units. Accordingly, with an average reduction of 25 percent in the inputs, these units can maintain their previous levels of output.