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Eco-efficiency of agricultural production in the Brazilian Amazon: determinant factors and spatial dependence

Abstract:

The agricultural production in the Amazon region has advanced exponentially. However, this economic growth has resulted in significant environmental impacts on the ecosystems of this biome, such as increased deforestation and degradation of biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest. Therefore, this article aimed to estimate the eco-efficiency of agricultural production in the municipalities of the Amazon biome, focusing on the determining factors and the spatial unfolding of this sustainability indicator. For that, we used the DEA methodology with double bootstrap and truncated regression (DEA-BTR) and the Moran Spatial Index. From the results, it was observed that the average eco-efficiency was 0.5490, indicating that the Amazonian municipalities could reduce the consumption of inputs and the pressure on biodiversity by 45.01% together with the maintenance of agricultural income and the preserved area. On the other hand, among the determining factors of sustainability of Amazonian agriculture, the level of education of the producer and technical assistance, being the most consistent exogenous variables of the models considered, were positively associated with the estimated eco-efficiency indexes. Furthermore, the Moran global index was positive and statistically significant, which demonstrated the presence of autocorrelation of agricultural eco-efficiency in the Amazon.

Keywords:
Amazon; agriculture; sustainability; DEA-BTR

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