Thakur Prasad Upadhyay

An application of data envelopment analysis to investigate the efficiency of lumber industry in northwestern Ontario, Canada

This study aims at exploring the technical efficiency of lumber industry in northwestern Ontario, Canada using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The DEA model analyzes relative technical efficiency of lumber mills with disproportionate inputs and outputs by dividing the 10-year time series data, for inputs and outputs of 24 lumber mills, over two periods (1999–2003 and 2004–2008). Four inputs, namely, material (log volume), labour (man-hours), two types of energy (hog-fuel and electricity), and one output (lumber volume) are used in this study. The trend analysis shows an annual reduction of 10%, 13% and 13% for lumber output, log consumption (input) and number of employees, respectively, during the period 1999–2008. The results from DEA with two scenarios with energy inputs and without energy inputs, for the two periods are found to be mixed and interesting. While some mills have improved their performance in terms of best use of available scarce inputs in the second period, some have shown negative per cent change in efficiency. In the with energy input and the without energy input scenario, some of the mills show a reduction in efficiency in the second period from the first period, with the highest estimated reductions of −13.9% and −47.6%, respectively. A possible explanation for these negative performances of mills in the latter period is the decline in production in the second period compared to the first period, where these mills were not able to adjust their inputs (mostly labour) as proportional lay-offs might not have been possible. These results provide policy makers and industry stakeholders with an improved understanding of the trends of efficiency and employment as well as reallocation opportunities of future inputs in order to increase benefits from this sector.

Comparative analysis of the production technologies of logging, sawmill, pulp and paper, and veneer and plywood industries in Ontario

Technological growth in production and efficient utilization of input factors are the two biggest contributors to total factor productivity (TFP). TFP of the four major forest industries (logging, pulp and paper, sawmill, and veneer and plywood industries) of Ontario are compared by analyzing their production structures using duality theory in production and costs. The study uses annual data of output and four inputs — labour, capital, energy and materials — from 1967 to 2003. Different restrictions on the translog cost function are applied to each industry to determine the cost function that best describes each industry’s technology, which is further used to estimate Morishima elasticities of substitution, own-price and cross-price elasticities, rate of technological change, and TFP. The production structure of sawmill and veneer and plywood industries is found to be linear homogeneous and homothetic, and that of logging and pulp and paper industries is non-homothetic. Further, Hicks neutral technologica...

Economic Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains: A Case Study of Four Competing Bioenergy Power Plants in Northwestern Ontario

Supply chain optimization for biomass-based power plants is an important research area due to greater emphasis on green energy sources. This paper develops and applies two optimization models to analyze the impacts of biomass competition on cost structures and gross margins for four competing biomass-based power plants in northwestern Ontario. Model scenarios are run to study the impacts of changes in parameters relevant to biomass type and processing technology, and prices of inputs and outputs on procurement costs. Cost minimization model shows that per unit procurement costs are directly proportional to the size of the power plants in all scenarios. Profit maximization model, on the other hand, shows that FMUs that are closer to the power plants make higher gross margins. However, the margins significantly increase for FMUs that are close to the power plants potentially offering higher prices. The variations in costs and gross margin structures under various model scenarios are explained by location of depletion cells relative to power plants, availability of each type of biomass in depletion cells, biomass demands, and differential processing costs for two types of biomass. These results can aid decision makers to make improved decisions related to biomass supply chains for bioenergy production.

Rangeland Management in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal: An Ecological Perspective

Abstract Sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems has direct implications for conservation of biological diversity and for the livelihoods of local communities in the Himalayan region in general and the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone (SNPBZ) in particular. This study aims to analyze the status of rangeland management in the SNPBZ from an ecological perspective. We used multivariate and bivariate analysis and geographic information system techniques to analyze ecological data and land use trends. A significant annual change with a 3.38% decrease in glacier area was observed between 1978 and 1996. We observed 168 plant species in the SNPBZ with a range of 3–17 species per sample plot, where about 67% of plants were found to be palatable for livestock. Our study shows that total available fodder biomass on rangeland in the SNPBZ has not been fully utilized yet, because the total available supply exceeds the present demand under some assumptions: reduction of biomass through grazing causes higher productivity, resulting in a higher number of species, according to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. The results of this study could help improve decision-making related to sustainable rangeland management.