Taking a deeper look at the Priority of Agricultural Industry Efficiency through the Use of Data Envelopment Approach

The research aims to analyze the technical efficiency of the chocolate industry, which has outstanding performance in producing chocolate products in East Java, Indonesia. The research sample includes all small and large-scale chocolate industries in East Java, with 42 Decision Making Units (DMUs). Efficiency research uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is usually used in agricultural production research. However, in this research, DEA was used to analyze the efficiency of the chocolate industry making this concept as an empirical novelty. The analysis results show that there are industries operating at the Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) level (0.971), with a percentage of 66.67%, consisting of 28 DMUs, and the Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) level (0.992), with a percentage of 85.71%, which is represented by 36 DMUs. The Technical Efficiency (TE) is categorized as full technical efficiency at 85.72%, with a high category at 14.28%, and no DMUs fall under the moderate and low categories. This indicates that the allocation of inputs in each DMU is significantly different. Six DMUs require improvement in the distribution of industrial capital and raw materials input to achieve full efficiency category by making decisions based on the DMU's recommendations as a reference (benchmarks). This article concludes that industrial efficiency is a priority for the establishment of a business to achieve its goals easily. When the industry can control the quality and quantity of its products, it can be highly beneficial. The policy implications required for this case research to maintain and improve the efficiency of the chocolate industry in East Java, Indonesia, are for industries to prioritize joint management, increase the scale of operations, increase production frequency, expand innovative chocolate processing technology, prioritize product quality, and be able to penetrate export markets.