Evaluation energy balance and energy indices of peanut production in north of Iran

Abstract

One way to evaluation of sustainable developing in agriculture is using of energy flow method. This method in an agricultural product system is the energy consuming in product operations and energy saving in produced crops. In this article, evaluation of energy balance and energy indices under rain fed farming peanut in north of Iran (Guilan province) was investigated. Data were collected from 72 farms by using a face to face questionnaire method during 2011 year in Guilan province. By using of consumed data as inputs and total production as output, and their concern equivalent energy, energy balance and energy indices were calculated. Energy efficiency (energy output to input energy ratio) in this study was calculated as 3.50, showing the affective use of energy in the agro ecosystems peanut production. Energy balance efficiency (production energy to consumption energy ratio) in this study was calculated as 2.73, showing the affective use of energy in the agro ecosystems peanut production.