Calculating the efficiency of tea production enterprises for the period 2019-2023 with data envelopment analysis method

Although tea has been produced and consumed in the world for centuries, it was first consumed in the Ottoman Empire in the 1600s. Today, tea is imported from Europe. The first tea experiment in our country was brought from Japan in 1888 and tried to be produced in Bursa. However, the experiment was unsuccessful as suitable conditions were not provided. After this date, as a result of the studies carried out by Ali Rıza Erten, one of the lecturers of Halkalı Agricultural School in 1917, it was revealed that tea could be produced around Artvin and Rize in the country. After the establishment of the first tea factory, as a result of the production of large-scale and small-scale enterprises, today Turkey is known as one of the top five countries in tea production. Although tea came to Turkey late, it has created a culture in Turkey today. ÇAYKUR comes to mind when it comes to tea production and tea agriculture in Turkey. ÇAYKUR meets half of the tea production in Turkey. For this reason, it has a valuable place in tea research. Today, there are 49 factories belonging to ÇAYKUR. In this study, the efficiency and productivity of 10 factories of ÇAYKUR were measured by Data Envelopment Analysis. Data Envelopment Analysis is one of the nonparametric performance measurement methods in which similar inputs are used and similar outputs are obtained. In this study, the efficiency and productivity of 10 factories belonging to ÇAYKUR were measured using Data Envelopment Analysis. In the Data Envelopment Analysis, 4 inputs (Green Tea Given for Production, Total Labor Costs, General Manufacturing Expenses, Production Capacity) and 2 outputs (amount of dried tea produced and total sales) were used. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that 6 enterprises operated efficiently and 4 enterprises did not operate efficiently for the year 2023. Based on the five-year performance evaluation for the period 2019-2023, it was observed that Ardeşen, Fındıklı, and Pazar Taşlıdere tea enterprises operated fully efficiently, except for the year 2021. The only period where their performance was weak was in 2021, attributed to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting all enterprises.