Energy Use and Economic Analysis of Fertilizer Use in Wheat and Sugar Beet Production in Serbia

Abstract

Increased demand for food production, influenced by the constant growth of population, resulted in the agricultural production systems that are more energy and economy intensive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the energetic and economic efficiency of sugar beet and wheat production. Attention was given to the fertilizer usage and its share in energy consumption since it can amount to 50%. Data show that energy input in wheat production was 5.84 MJ·kg−1 and in sugar beet it was 0.93 MJ·kg−1. The highest share of energy input both in wheat and sugar beet was observed for fertilizers, 52.45% and 46.70%, respectively. Economic analysis has shown that wheat production is a low profitable production with a net return of only 20.69 USD·ha−1, in comparison with sugar beet production with a net return of 513.53 USD·ha−1. Costs related to the fertilizer use prevailed in total variable and total production costs. Economic analysis has also shown that the benefit-to-cost ratio was higher in sugar beet production (1.33) compared to wheat production (1.03). Furthermore, it was determined that these economic indicators were less sensitive in sugar beet production than in wheat production regarding the variation of fertilizer.

Energy use Efficiency and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris) Production in the Irrigated Central Clay Plain of Guneid Area - Sudan

“…whereas benefit-cost ratio 1.17 [9]. In another study it was reported that the total and net returns from sugar beet production in Serbia were 905.5 and 513.53 USDha -1 respectively, while the benefit to cost ratio and productivity were 1.33 and 31.19 respectively [10]. These findings are in agreement with outputs of the present study.…”

“…They also reported 29.62% of energy input as from direct energy and 65.64%was indirect energy. Similar results were observed in a study carried out in Serbia where the non-renewable energy share was 96.93%, mainly due to fertilizers [10]. The energy efficiency of sugar beet production may be evaluated by energy parameters such as specific energy input, energy productivity, and net energy gain).The specific energy input gives an idea about how much energy is spent on the yield obtained.…”

“…This is closer to that reported by [9] as an average annual yield of 60.82tons ha -1 and energy ratio of 25.75. It is also similar to the previous decades both in Europe and in the [10]. As for the energy ratio, it was stated by [26] that if it is higher than one, the system earns energy, but if it is less than one, the system will lose energy.…”

“…Many research outputs have showed energy use in agriculture and economic analysis to determine the energy use ratios for crop production in many countries e.g. [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Energy utilization in field level usually varies with farm size, crop growing, production practices and physical environmental [11].…”

Energy Use Efficiency of Sugar Cane Production in the Central Clay Plain of Kenana Area

“…There are many research studies have been carried out in some countries to investigate energy use in agriculture to determine the energy use efficiency for crop production and economic analysis e.g. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The amounts of energy use in farms usually vary with farm size, the crop grown, the practices used in production and environmental effects [13].…”