Energy Use Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Plum (Prunus domestica L.) Production: Evidence from Central Türkiye

Abstract

This research sought to study the amount of energy and the amount of greenhouse gas released in the plum growing in Akşehir, a district of Konya. The information was obtained from the farmers mentioned above, by means of questionnaires which were filled up during a part of the 2025 harvest. In order to ascertain the energy and emission values of all inputs, standard references available to workers in agricultural investigations were used. Total energy input was found to be 10,441.48 megajoules per hectare, while total energy output was 26,127.53 megajoules per hectare. This means that for one unit of energy put in, there is about 2.53 units received. Nearly one half of all energy used is in the form of electricity, which also has the greatest potential effect on the general appearance of the farm from the point of view of its energy economy. The total amount of greenhouse gases evolved was estimated to be about 1217 kg per hectare, in terms of equivalent CO, of which about three-fourths come from the use of electric energy. These results show that there is an efficient use of energy in the growing of plums in this region, but that it is rather limited in its possibilities for improvement in environmental quality on account of the rare use of renewable energy. The greatest possibilities for use of this renewable energy lies in the way of increased use of solar energy for irrigation and from the use of machinery that is more economical in energy used for that purpose. The general effect of this would be a decrease in cost of production which would mean greater opportunity for agricultural enterprise and at the same time an improved quality of the farm from the point of view of it being more happily located in a less polluted environment.