BANAEIAN N., OMID M., AHMADI H.
Abstract
In recent years, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has become a central technique in productivity and effi ciency analysis used
in different aspects of economics and management sciences. The aim of this study is using the DEA technique to investigate
the technical and scale effi ciency of Iranian greenhouse strawberry production. Also this research focused on comparing and
optimizing the performance of greenhouses. Required data were collected using face to face questionnaire from personnel of 25
greenhouses. Analyzes were based on the amount of four important inputs: human labour (h ha-1), fertilizers (kg ha-1), capital ($
ha-1) and other expenses ($ ha-1) as input, and gross return of produced strawberries ($ ha-1) as output. According to the average
technical (0.73) and pure technical (0.96) effi ciency, there is a suitable potential for more effi cient and sustainable input utilization
in production. Comparison between the present and target amount of inputs demonstrated that the differences caused by the lack of
inputs consumption management and calculate that on average 54716.65 $ ha-1, interpreting that if greenhouse holders follow the
recommendation and use the projected amount of inputs can save 45716.65 $ ha-1. Analysis showed that the most wastage of cost
is fertilizers and greenhouses can save 29% of that by improving management practices.
Key words:
Data envelopment analysis; fertilizers; cost saving; management practices