Energy analysis of agroecosystems seems to be a promising approach to assess environmental problems and their relations to sustainability. The aim of the present study was to compare bean, lentil, irrigated and dryland chickpea farms in terms of energy efficiency, energy productivity, benefit to cost ratio and the amount of renewable energy use. Data were collected from 18 bean, 27 lentil, 24 irrigated chickpea and 46 dryland chickpea growers, using a face-to-face questionnaire during 2010. The results revealed that the total energy requirement were for bean 23666.8 MJ ha-1, for lentil 14114.79 MJ ha-1, for irrigated chickpea 15756.21 MJ ha-1, and for dryland chickpea 2630.12 MJ ha-1. The average energy input consumed in studied crops including direct, indirect, renewable and non-renewable energies in bean, lentil, irrigated chickpea and dryland chickpea farms were 67%, 33%, 30% and 70%, respectively. Energy use efficiency was 1.81 for bean, 1.79 for lentil, 1.21 for irrigated chickpea and 2.78 for dryland chickpea. The benefit to cost ratios in bean, lentil, irrigated chickpea and dryland chickpea farms were 6.18, 6.15, 3.71 and 8.10, respectively. Based on the results of the present study, dryland chickpea was the most efficient in terms of energy. Between studied irrigated crops, bean was the most efficient both in terms of energy and economical benefit.

Keywords