A Data Envelopment Analysis of Technical Efficiency with Determinants of Apple Growers: Evidence from the Indian Himalayan Region of Himachal Pradesh

Apple cultivation is a key component of the rural economy and ecological sustainability of Himachal Pradesh in the Western Himalayan region. Despite favorable agro-climatic conditions, the state continues to lag behind Jammu and Kashmir in productivity and efficiency, highlighting the need to evaluate orchard performance and identify the socio-economic and climatic factors influencing production efficiency.

The study evaluates the technical efficiency of apple growers using an input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) under CRS and VRS assumptions. Primary data were collected from apple farmers across the major producing districts of Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur. The efficiency scores obtained from DEA were further analyzed using a tobit regression model to examine the influence of socio-economic, farm and climatic factors.

The findings reveal that a majority of apple orchards operate below the optimal efficiency level, indicating considerable scope for improving resource utilization. Most farms exhibit increasing returns to scale, suggesting that small orchard sizes remain a major constraint. The results also highlight district-level variations in efficiency due to differences in productivity, orchard characteristics and climatic risks. The econometric analysis shows that productivity, land inequality and climatic instability reduce efficiency, while adoption of improved varieties and greater specialization in apple farming enhance production performance.