Energy Modelling and Sensitivity Analysis of Rice production in Ilam, Iran

Abstract

In current study, energy and economic analysis of rice production was assessed in Chardavol and Badreh, two towns in western part of Iran. A face-to-face questionnaire was used for collecting data from 40 farmers. Energy indices including energy use efficiency, energy productivity, specific energy, pure performance, and different forms of energy including direct, indirect, renewable, and non-renewable were analyzed. The Cobb-Douglas production function was used to represent the relationship between the energy inputs and outputs. The results showed that the total energy input in Chardavol and Badreh accounted for 28594.75 MJ/ha and 25865.6 MJ/ha, respectively. It was observed that the substantial amounts of energy consumption belonged to irrigation, fuel, and fertilizers. The energy output/input ratios showed that management of resources in Chardavol (5.63) was more effective than Badreh (3.31). On average 44.61% and 38.51% of energy input in Chardavol and Badreh were non-renewable. The results of using Cobb-Douglas production function showed that in Badreh, the elasticity of inputs including human labor, fuel, manure, chemicals and irrigation had a positive impact on rice productivity while the elasticity of machinery, fertilizers, and seed inputs had a negative implication.