Efficiency of rice production and CO2 emissions: A study of selected Asian countries using DDF and SBM-DEA

Abstract

The present study aims to measure the efficiency of desirable output (Rice) in the presence of undesirable output (CO2), for selected Asian countries. An attempt has also been made to identify how great a reduction in CO2 emission is required to make agricultural practices efficient and sustainable. DDF and SBM-DEA are used to calculate the efficiency of 28 Asian countries for the period 2002 to 2014. To compare the efficiency of the models with and without the presence of undesired output and to calculate bias, if any, in model selection, the Mann-Whitney U test was applied. Results indicate that the exclusion of undesired output leads to biased estimates. The efficiency scores show that in eleven countries rice production was environmentally efficient. For the remaining seventeen inefficient countries, a considerable amount of reduction in CO2 emissions and fertilizer use are required to make the production process efficient and environmentally sustainable.