Study of Tomato Processing Efficiency in Fars Province

One of the most important industries in the agricultural sector of Iran is tomato processing industry. This industry also is important in Fars Province. The objective was to study efficiency of firms in Fars province. Data Envelopment Analysis was used for analyzing efficiency. Result showed that by using 97801 million Rials of capital, 909 man per year of labor, 56814 square meter of building and 225492 square meters of landthat respectively were 61.42%, 36.05%, 42.73% and 57.71% less than current condition of using these resources,164 thousands tons of tomato paste could be produced that was 1.66% greater than current production. This is possible by technical changes and use of full capacity of tomato paste industries. In this context, extending credit, subsidy and price support for tomato and tomato paste producers are suggested. Design of new tomato paste firms and corresponding costs could be analyzed byusing the approach proposed in this study.