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Efficiency and sustainability assessment for a group of farmers in the Brazilian Amazon

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  • Eliane Gomes
  • João Soares de Mello
  • Geraldo Souza
  • Lidia Angulo Meza
  • João Mangabeira

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to use DEA models to evaluate sustainability in agriculture. Several variables are taken into account and the resulting efficiency is measured by comparison. The performance of family farms is analysed here (variables: farmed area, work force, and production). As agricultural sustainability depends on the maintenance of systems of production for long periods of time, the models were run for the years of 1986 and 2002. Tiered DEA models were used to group farmers in sustainability categories. Non-parametric regression models were used to identify the factors affecting the efficiency measurements. All the results indicate that the majority of the farmers increased their efficiency along the time. These improvements may support the existence of sustainability. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

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  • Eliane Gomes & João Soares de Mello & Geraldo Souza & Lidia Angulo Meza & João Mangabeira, 2009. "Efficiency and sustainability assessment for a group of farmers in the Brazilian Amazon," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 167-181, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:169:y:2009:i:1:p:167-181:10.1007/s10479-008-0390-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-008-0390-6
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    Cited by:

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    2. Agnes Gold & Stefan Gold, 2019. "Drivers of Farm Efficiency and Their Potential for Development in a Changing Agricultural Setting in Kerala, India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(4), pages 855-880, September.
    3. Mwambo, Francis Molua & Fürst, Christine & Nyarko, Benjamin K. & Borgemeister, Christian & Martius, Christopher, 2020. "Maize production and environmental costs: Resource evaluation and strategic land use planning for food security in northern Ghana by means of coupled emergy and data envelopment analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
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    5. Maria G. Lampridi & Claus G. Sørensen & Dionysis Bochtis, 2019. "Agricultural Sustainability: A Review of Concepts and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-27, September.
    6. Pokorny, Benno & Robiglio, Valentina & Reyes, Martin & Vargas, Ricardo & Patiño Carrera, Cesar Francesco, 2021. "The potential of agroforestry concessions to stabilize Amazonian forest frontiers: a case study on the economic and environmental robustness of informally settled small-scale cocoa farmers in Peru," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. N. Avkiran, 2010. "Sensitivity analysis of network DEA illustrated in branch banking," CEPA Working Papers Series WP122010, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    8. Mutyasira, Vine & Hoag, Dana & Pendell, Dustin & Manning, Dale T. & Berhe, Melaku, 2018. "Assessing the relative sustainability of smallholder farming systems in Ethiopian highlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 83-91.
    9. Huifeng Pan & Yingqi Liu & Hongwei Gao, 2015. "Impact of agricultural industrial structure adjustment on energy conservation and income growth in Western China: a statistical study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 228(1), pages 23-33, May.
    10. Asima Ihsan & Bilal Mehmood, 2016. "Relative Efficiencies of Public Parks in Three Cities of Punjab," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 4(1), pages 9-24, January.
    11. Sushil Gupta & Hossein Rikhtehgar Berenji & Manish Shukla & Nagesh N. Murthy, 2023. "Opportunities in farming research from an operations management perspective," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1577-1596, June.
    12. Mosbah, Ezzeddine & Zaibet, Lokman & Dharmapala, P. Sunil, 2020. "A new methodology to measure efficiencies of inputs (outputs) of decision making units in Data Envelopment Analysis with application to agriculture," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Gerdessen, Johanna C. & Pascucci, Stefano, 2013. "Data Envelopment Analysis of sustainability indicators of European agricultural systems at regional level," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 78-90.

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