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Multi-criteria sustainability performance assessment of horticultural crops using DEA and ELECTRE IV methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2022

Narges Banaeian Open the ORCID record for Narges Banaeian [Opens in a new window] ,
Morteza Zangeneh Open the ORCID record for Morteza Zangeneh [Opens in a new window]  and
Paulina Golinska-Dawson Open the ORCID record for Paulina Golinska-Dawson [Opens in a new window]
Narges Banaeian*
Affiliation:
Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Morteza Zangeneh
Affiliation:
Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Paulina Golinska-Dawson
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
*
Author for correspondence: Narges Banaeian, E-mail: banaeian@guilan.ac.ir
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Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to multi-criteria sustainability performance assessment of horticultural crops. The crops are ranked by the decision-making method ELECTRE IV with environmental, energy and technological criteria. In total eight indicators are taken into consideration and calculated based on primary data collected from over 260 farms in northern Iran. Additionally, Data Envelopment Analysis is used to calculate the technical efficiency and potential for energy saving by different management of the production units. The novel contribution of this study is the comparison of several horticultural products (oranges, kiwis, persimmons and tangerines), when most of the previous studies have focused on one product. Moreover, novel calculations of the carbon footprint are presented for oranges, tangerines and persimmons. This paper also includes the first study on the environmental impact of persimmon fruit's production. The obtained results show that energy efficiency for orange, tangerine, kiwi and persimmon products: 1.1, 0.84, 0.53 and 1.22, respectively. In each hectare of kiwi orchards, the amount of CO2 emissions of 1219 kg and the ecological footprint of 3.21 hectares have been calculated, which is statistically significant compared to orange, tangerine and persimmon. The chemical and fuel inputs have the greatest potential for reducing energy consumption in the studied products. Results of ELECTRE IV showed that kiwi is the most sustainable selection for the studied region followed by orange, persimmon and tangerine, respectively. Kiwi has also relatively low technical efficiency. This means that this product has the greatest potential for a reduction of energy consumption, while maintaining the same amount of crop. It is recommended to include the development of kiwi orchards in the policies of Guilan, but with more careful management of the production inputs.

Keywords

Carbon footprintecological footprintkiwiorangepersimmontangerine
Type
Research Article
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2022 , pp. 649 - 659
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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