Effect of uncontrolled quality inputs on saffron fields efficiency (case study: Qaen County)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is the impact of uncontrolled quality factors on the efficiency of saffron farms in the Qaen County. In this paper, we tried to study the impact of uncontrolled quality factors on the efficiency of saffron farms considering the importance of saffron in Qaen County. Information and data is collected through completion of 173 questionnaires in years 2015-16. The results of the research show that the efficiency of the scale with the value of 0.82 represents the highest mean. Also, the technical efficiency with constant and constant returns to the scale of 0.62 and 0.50 showed that the sample farms in terms of technical efficiency with variable and constant efficiency versus the scale have a potential of 38% and 50% in the amount of inputs and can reduce the inputs used without decreasing the production of the product. Also, the performance values ​​of the Bunker and Murray models (the model without considering the qualitative factors) did not show any difference compared with the new model (considering qualitative factors). Therefore, it seems that the role of activity scale does not appear only in the concepts of scale efficiency and type of return to scale, but it also has a relationship with technical efficiency. Thereby, doing complementary studies will focus on the activities of the scale.

Keywords

• Saffron
• Uncontrolled inputs
• Data Envelopment Analysis
• performance
• Qaen