A DEA-BASED EVALUATION OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE UNDER THE ASSUMPTION OF NATURAL AND MANAGERIAL EFFICIENCY

Abstract

This study uses the Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the agricultural environmental performance under the assumption of natural and managerial disposability, but also evaluates the Returns to Scale and Damages to Scale in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2012. Seven agricultural variables are analyzed: animal feed, fertilizers, capital stock, labor, land, value of the gross agricultural production and agricultural emissions (CO2eq). The results found that the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico attained the maximum efficiency level in all efficiency measurements. These countries present the best performances compared with the other countries evaluated.

Keywords

• Agricultural
• environmental
• efficiency
• DEA