A survey on technical efficiency, marketing and market structure of saffron crop, Iran

The current study attempted to determine technical efficiency as well as study the marketing and market structure of Saffarn crop in Iran. To access the research goals 140 farms, 25 retailers and 14 wholesalers randomly selected. The necessary data collected through interview and filling questionarie. Apart from this, some agricultural Expert from selected cities of Razavi province have been chosen to interview. To determine the market time-series data for the period of 1995-12 was used. To determine technical efficiency DEA method, to calculate marketing margins Digbi method and to find market structure concentration ratio and Herfindal index were used. The results indicated that, the average technical efficiency was 63.49 and minimum and maximum technical efficiency respectively 19.04 and 100, retailer margin mean of Saffron was more than wholesale margin mean and average marketing cost coefficient of Saffron was about 14.78. It means that, marketing factors share in final price is 14.78. Address to the results the Saffaran’s market structure is oligopoly