Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Studies of Irrigation Efficiency in Andalusia
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 3
Abstract
The semiarid climate of the majority of agricultural districts in the Mediterranean means that water is a key factor limiting production. It is therefore necessary to distribute water in the most efficient way possible and foment the sustainable use of this valuable resource. It is a difficult task to ascertain whether the use of water in an irrigation district is efficient or not, given that water as a resource cannot be considered in an isolated manner. The development of techniques for data envelopment analysis (DEA) has made it possible to evaluate, in a global manner, where the application of water is most efficient. DEA techniques consider the production process as a set of inputs which obtain a set of outputs in the form of profits. The study of efficiency as a combination of resources allows us to assess when the application of water will lead to greater profitability and hence aid water management authorities in distributing the water of their basins in an appropriate manner. In this study, the data envelopment analysis Baker, Charnes, and Cooper model is applied to all of the irrigation districts in Andalusia (Southern Spain). Using the Wilcoxon–Mann–Withney statistical test we conclude that extensive agriculture (located in the interior) and intensive agriculture (on the littoral) are difficult to compare. Although intensive agriculture with localized irrigation systems achieves the highest efficiency values, the spatial distribution of efficiencies is of great utility in detecting local inefficiencies. It is also useful in providing general guidelines as to which trends should be followed in order to obtain the greatest possible efficiency.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ali, A. I., and Seiford, L. M. (1993). “The mathematical programming approach to efficiency analysis.” The measurement of productive efficiency: Techniques and applications, H. O. Fried, C. A. K. Lovell, and S. S. Schmidt, eds., Oxford University Press, New York, 120–159.
Arzubi, A., and Berbel, J. (2001). “Determinación de la eficiencia usando DEA en las explotaciones lecheras de Argentina.” IV Congreso de la Asociación de Economa Agraria, Pamplona, Spain (in Spanish).
Athanassapoulos, A. D., Lambroukos, N., and Seiford, L.(1998). “Data envelopment scenario analysis for setting targets to electricity generating plants.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 115, 413–428.
Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., and Cooper, W. W.(1984). “Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis.” Manage. Sci., 30, 1078–1092.
Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., and Rhodes, E.(1978). “Measuring the efficiency of decision making units.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 2, 429–444.
Coelli, T. (1996). “A guide to DEAP versión 2.1: A data envelopment analysis (computer) program.” CEPA working paper 96/08.
Coelli, T. (1998). “A multi-stage methodology for the solution of orientated DEA models.” CEPA workings papers. 1/98.
Consejera de Agricultura y Pesca. Junta de Andaluca. (1999). “Inventario y Caraterización de los Regados de Andaluca.” Sevilla, Spain (in Spanish).
Cooper, W. W., Seiford, L. M., and Tone, K. (2000). Data envelopment analysis. A comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver software, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Corominas, J. (1996). “El Regado en el umbral del siglo XXI: Plan Nacional de Regados y Plan de Regardos de Andaluca.” XIV Congreso Nacional de Riegos. Aguadulce (Almera) (in Spanish).
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., Kirley, J., and Squires, D. (2000). Data envelopment analysis (DEA): A framework for assessing capacity in fisheries when data are limited, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, Ore.
Farrell, M. J.(1957). “The measurement of productive efficiency.” J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A. Gen., CXX, 253–290.
Haslem, J. A., Scheraga, C. A., and Bedingfield, J. P.(1999). “DEA efficiency profiles of U.S. banks operating internationally.” Int. Rev. Econ. Finance, 8, 165–182.
Hussain, A., and Jones, M. (2001). “An introduction to frontier analyst.” Banxia software.
Hussain, I., Marikar, F., and Jehangir, W. (2000). “Productivity and performance of irrigated wheat farms across canal commands in the lower indus basin.” Research Rep. 44, International Water Management Institute.
Pardo, M. L., Ruiz, D. E. M., Rodrguez, J. J., Martos, J., and Lara, P. (2001). “Aplicación de la metodologa DEA en la medida de la eficiencia de la producción de la leche en Córdoba.” IV Congreso de la Asociación de Economa Agraria, Pamplonam, Spain (in Spanish).
Vicario, V., Dios, R., and Martnez. (2000). “La eficiencia técnica en las explotaciones multicultivo de la provincia de Córdoba mediante DEA. Una comparación con los métodos paramétricos.” IV Congreso de la Asociación de Economa Agraria, Pamplona, Spain (in Spanish).
Zaibet, L., and Dharmapala, P. S.(1999). “Efficiency of government-supported horticulture: The case of Oman.” Agric. Syst., 62, 159–168.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 3 • June 2004
Pages: 175 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 4, 2002
Accepted: Jul 30, 2003
Published online: May 14, 2004
Published in print: Jun 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.