Efficiency Analysis of Agricultural Land Use Based on DEA Method: A Case Study among APEC Economies

This study made an analysis of agricultural land use efficiency in APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) with an objective to find which member economy can produce at least the same amount of food production with less resources input. To do so, data envelopment analysis (DEA), a useful method to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of a number of producers which consume multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs, was used to analyze the agricultural land use efficiency in an input-output system for food production. The results show that the overall land use efficiency for food production is relatively low in APEC region, there is plenty of room for most economies to increase food yield at current input level. The input factors made different contribution to land use efficiency: Arable land area is the last factor to cause input redundancy, agricultural labors should be liberated from agricultural sector, or it will cause inefficiency to a certain extent, artificial material input such as fertilizer and machinery plays an important role in agricultural land use system.