A New Approach to Material and Energy Flow Accounting of Agricultural Systems: A Case Study of Canola in Ardabil Province

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor of Plant Production and Genetic Engineering, University of Malayer, Malayer, Hamedan.

Abstract

Reducing material waste in agricultural production is one of the most important strategies to increase efficiency in the agricultural sector. Accordingly, various methods have been used to measure the economic efficiency and energy of agricultural production. However, most of these methods do not take into account the hidden costs of measuring the efficiency of the production system. Material Flow Cost accounting (MFCA) enables farmers to be aware of the amount of energy and value-added losses that results from material waste. In this study, a new approach (ISO 14,051) was used to measure the economic and energy indicators of canola production in Ardabil province. Data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with 65 farmers in the 2,018. According to the obtained results, the highest amount of input energy is related to fossil fuels and nitrogen fertilizer. Based on energy and economic indicators calculated by two methods of conventional accounting and accounting based on material flow cost accounting, it was found that the total value of canola production according to conventional accounting is equal to 59,055,260 Rials per hectare and in material flow costing is 65,694,700 Rials per hectare. However, in case of reducing material and energy waste (negative production), the benefit-cost ratio in the production process will increase by 0.12 units. Energy efficiency and specific energy were the same in the two accounting approaches because of the non-interference of output energies in their calculation. But net energy in conventional accounting differs by 9,162 megajoules from MFCA. The findings of the present study will help to better understand the issues and challenges related to reducing waste and environmental emissions and optimizing production systems as well as investing in crop production.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Dekamin, Majid, & Barmaki, Morteza. (2019). Implementation of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) in soybean production. Journal of Cleaner Production, 210, 459-465.
Dekamin, Majid, Barmaki, Morteza, Kanooni, Amin, & Meshkini, Seyed Reza Mosavi. (2018). Cradle to farm gate life cycle assessment of oilseed crops production in Iran. Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food, 11(4), 178-185.
 Hatirli, S. A., Ozkan, B., & Fert, C. (2005). An econometric analysis of energy input–output in Turkish agriculture. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 9(6), 608-623.
ISO 1451. (2011). Environmental management — Material flow cost accounting — General framework.
Nemecek, T., Kägi, T., & Blaser, S. (2007). Life cycle inventories of agricultural production systems. Final Report Ecoinvent v2.0 No, 15.
Kazemi, H., Bourkheili, S. H., Kamkar, B., Soltani, A., Gharanjic, K., & Nazari, N. M. (2016). Estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and energy use efficiency (EUE) analysis in rainfed canola production (case study: Golestan province, Iran). Energy, 116, 694-700.
Khojastehpour, M., Nikkhah, A., & Hashemabadi, D. (2015). A comparative study of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of canola production. International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development, 5(1), 51-58.
Koocheki, A., & Hosseini, M. (1994). Energy efficiency in agricultural ecosystems. Ferdowsi University.
Mohammadi, A., Tabatabaeefar, A., Shahin, S., Rafiee, S., & Keyhani, A. (2008). Energy use and economical analysis of potato production in Iran a case study: Ardabil province. Energy conversion and management, 49(12), 3566-3570.
Mohammadshirazi, A., Akram, A., Rafiee, S., Avval, S. H. M., & Kalhor, E. B. (2012). An analysis of energy use and relation between energy inputs and yield in tangerine production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(7), 4515-4521.
Mousavi-Avval, S. H., Rafiee, S., Jafari, A., & Mohammadi, A. (2011). Energy flow modeling and sensitivity analysis of inputs for canola production in Iran. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19(13), 1464-1470.
Pishgar-Komleh, SH, Sefeedpari, P, & Rafiee, Sh. (2011). Energy and economic analysis of rice production under different farm levels in Guilan province of Iran. Energy, 36(10), 5824-5831.
Rabiee, M, Majidian, M, Alizadeh M, & Kavoosi, M. (2020). Evaluation of energy use efficiency and greenhouse gas emission in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) production in paddy fields of Guilan province of Iran. Energy, 119,411. (In press): https://doi.org/10.1,016/j.energy.2020.119,411
Tabatabaie, S. M. H., Rafiee, S., & Keyhani, A. (2012). Energy consumption flow and econometric models of two plum cultivars productions in Tehran province of Iran. Energy, 44(1), 211-216.
Tabatabaie, S. M. H., Rafiee, S., Keyhani, A., & Heidari, M. D. (2013). Energy use pattern and sensitivity analysis of energy inputs and input costs for pear production in Iran. Renewable Energy, 51, 7-12.
Tsoutsos, T., Kouloumpis, V., Zafiris, T., & Foteinis, S. (2010). Life Cycle Assessment for biodiesel production under Greek climate conditions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(4), 328-335.
Unakitan, G, Hurma, H, & Yilmaz, F. (2010). An analysis of energy use efficiency of canola production in Turkey. Energy, 35(9), 3,623-3,627.
Iranian Journal of Biosystems Engineering
Volume 51, Issue 4
February 2021
Pages 757-768

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 08 March 2020
  • Revise Date: 02 December 2020
  • Accept Date: 12 December 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics