A Non-Parametric Approach-Based Trade-Off between Food System Efficiency and Robustness

Balancing the efficiency and robustness of food systems is a well-known trade-off process. Over-optimization of efficiency may lead to excessive use of resources. On the other hand, the under-optimization of efficiency may lead to excessive waste of resources. This paper presents a novelly structured approach that integrates two well-suited non-parametric methods for analyzing and balancing the interconnection between the efficiency and robustness of food systems. This approach, which consists of three main steps, provides a theoretical framework and offers practical solutions. First, slacks-based data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) is utilized to analyze the efficiency of five food robustness dimensions. Second, the weighted efficiency of these dimensions is computed and analyzed to provide insight into their influence on food system efficiency. Finally, two search methods were developed to identify improving efficiency and robustness opportunities. The outcomes of these methods were analyzed and validated using data from 37 countries, with robustness dimension weights determined via the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). While the first improvement method provided valuable insights, the second method proved more effective in identifying the sources of inefficiency of robustness dimensions.