Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Agricultural Economics

First Advisor

Jefferson-Moore, Kenrett Dr.

Abstract

Sustainable cotton production is inextricably linked to the efficient use of resources. Suboptimum use of resources incurs opportunity costs and can exacerbate damaging externalities. In the Torbali region of Izmir, Turkey, overexploitation of ground water for irrigation and high fuel oil consumption for tractor operation affect cotton farms’ economic viability and the sustainability of cotton production in the region. Improving efficiency of resource use will improve enterprise viability, reduce harmful externalities and conserve ecological capital. This study explores technical, allocative and economic efficiency levels of cotton farms in the Torbali region of Izmir, Turkey by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The mean technical, allocative and economic efficiencies were measured to be 0.870, 0.880 and 0.766 respectively. These results exposed the existence of inefficiencies in cotton production in Torbali. Data on economic efficiency indicated that the farms could potentially decrease their cost of cotton production by 23.4 percent on average and still grow the same amount of cotton.

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