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Sensitivity analysis of energy inputs and cost assessment for almond production in Iran
Author(s) -
Beigi Mohsen,
TorkiHarchegani Mehdi,
Ebrahimi Rahim
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
environmental progress and sustainable energy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.495
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1944-7450
pISSN - 1944-7442
DOI - 10.1002/ep.12244
Subject(s) - fertilizer , production (economics) , mathematics , productivity , yield (engineering) , manure , farmyard manure , toxicology , agriculture , benefit–cost ratio , economic analysis , agricultural science , agricultural engineering , environmental science , statistics , net present value , agronomy , agricultural economics , engineering , economics , biology , ecology , physics , macroeconomics , thermodynamics
The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships between energy inputs and yield, and to perform cost analysis for almond production. Data were collected by administering questionnaire in face‐to‐face interviews from procedures. The results showed that total energy input was 59,542.61 MJ ha −1 and the output was 25,190.13 MJ ha −1 . The most important energy consuming inputs were electricity and chemical fertilizers with 55.98% and 17.72% of total energy input, respectively. The energy use efficiency and energy cost ratio values were estimated to be 0.42 and 0.19, respectively. The econometric model was developed using Cobb‐Douglas production function and the results revealed that human labor, machinery, chemical fertilizer, and farmyard manure energy inputs contributed significantly to yield. The results of sensitivity analysis of energy inputs showed the high impact of chemical fertilizers, and farmyard manure inputs on the yield. Economic analysis showed that the total production cost, total gross value, and net return of almond production were 5344.48 $ ha −1 , 27,241.29 $ ha −1 , and 21,896.81 $ ha −1 , respectively. Also, productivity and the benefit to cost ratio were obtained to be 0.16 kg $ −1 and 5.10, respectively. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 35: 582–588, 2016