Assessment of agricultural productive efficiency for Hetao Irrigation District based on data envelopment analysis

Abstract: The assessment of agricultural production efficiency of Hetao irrigation district of Inner Mongolia, an important agricultural production area of China, is of great significance in guaranteeing national food security. Much attention has been paid to blue water (surface and groundwater), while the use of green water (rainwater insofar as it does not become run-off) is rarely included in the agricultural production analysis. Compared to blue water, the cost of green water is less, but its environmental impact is concerned . Consequently, this paper analyzed agricultural productive efficiency of five counties in the Hetao irrigation district during 2000-2008 using data envelopment analysis (DEA) by considering blue water, green water, and other indicators. First, the technology efficiency, pure technology efficiency, and scale efficiency were analyzed combining CCR-I and BCC-I models and then some suggestions about how to adjust the amount of input resources were provided for ineffective decision making units (DMU). Results show that: among the 45 DMUs, there were 24 DMUs that were DEA-effective. The values of technology efficiency, pure technology efficiency, and scale efficiency of five counties during the period of 2005-2008 were greater than those during the period of 2000-2004. The differences of technology efficiency in different counties were not significant and the value for Qianqi (0.878) was smaller than the other four counties, which were larger than 0.9. The agricultural productivity efficiency of Qianqi was mainly influenced by production scale and it was the application of technology for Hanghou and Wuyuan. In order to be DEA-effective, the inputs of 21 DMUs should be decreased and the decreasing proportions were 16.66% (blue water), 22.23% (green water), 19.46% (irrigation areas with salinization problem), 20.66% (irrigation areas without salinization problem) and 23.82% (agricultural population). The use of different resources was inefficient and would have an adverse effect on the development of the irrigation district. To some extent, the redundancy of water and land resources in agricultural production may be related to the characteristics of green water. The rainfall in the Hetao irrigation district was uneven both temporally and spatially. Local farmers would increase the use of blue water and land resources when they were not sure about the amount of green water that the crops could use to achieve a better harvest. As a result, the use efficiency of blue water and land resources would decrease when the grain production was lower than the expectation value, which was mainly caused by the litter rainfall. The use efficiency of green water would decrease when the expectation green water was larger than actual value. In the future, the rational distribution of labor among agricultural production and other industries would be helpful in achieving a more effective agricultural production pattern for the Hetao irrigation district. Besides, the improvements of irrigation frustration and land resources management were also needed for the Hetao irrigation district. hift of cropping pattern to crops with lower irrigation water input and higher output would also be suggested considering the difficulty in decreasing the redundancy for green water. This study could provide some suggestions for the efficient agricultural production in the Hetao irrigation district and the improvement of the agricultural production system in other irrigation districts.