Evaluating Production Process Efficiency of Provincial Greenhouse Vegetables in China Using Data Envelopment Analysis: A Green and Sustainable Perspective

Abstract

The evaluation of vegetable production process efficiency is of great significance for energy saving and waste reduction in production processes. However, few studies have considered the effect of greenhouse vegetable production process efficiency on energy saving and waste reduction. In this paper, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to analyze the production process efficiency and the effective use of input elements of greenhouse vegetables at the provincial level in China. The results reveal that many chemical fertilizers, farmyard manure, and pesticides in China are inefficient. On the other hand, the pure technical efficiency of greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers is low in most areas of China. Meanwhile, the scale efficiency of greenhouse eggplants and greenhouse peppers is low in most areas of China. In order to save energy and develop green sustainable agriculture, we put forward some suggestions to improve the production efficiency of greenhouse vegetables in different provinces.