World´s 24 Biggest Agricultural Producers` Eco-Efficiency Considering Undesirable Outputs

There is still a lack of studies, which are comparing the eco-efficiency of the world`s biggest agricultural producers, which affect the development of agricultural policy the most, not just EU countries. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to evaluate and compare the eco-efficiency of the world`s 24 biggest agricultural producers in time and space and verifying the hypothesis that all the biggest agriculture producers are eco-efficient. Due to the improvement of technologies, we expect a positive development of agricultural eco-efficiency during the time. Eco-efficiency of the world’s 24 biggest agricultural producers is computed for the years 2007 and 2017, using an output-oriented DEA model with two undesirable outputs. Data are obtained from FAOSTAT for the years 2007 and 2017. 15 countries have an eco-effective agricultural sector in both years 2007 and 2017 and could be considered as sustainable efficient countries. On average the agricultural eco-efficiency is decreasing over time. Based on the eco-efficiency values, the biggest agricultural producers are divided into three eco-efficiency agricultural groups – eco-efficiency leaders, eco-efficiency followers, and eco-efficiency laggards. According to the results, the research hypothesis that all the biggest agriculture producers are eco-efficient is not confirmed. Likewise, in general, technology improvement during time does not lead to a positive development of agricultural eco-efficiency.