Traditional or low energy farming is being substituted br modern or energy intensive farming the stacture of energy consumption in agriculture in general, and that in Kurdistan province in particular has changed substantially from human and animal energy to mechanical energy due to shift from traditional to modern farming. This paper attempts to study the input- wise energy used in agriculture in the plain, semi-plain and mountain areas.the study is based on the data collected from 2010 sample farmers from the three areas of Kurdistan province of Iran. The total energy use was found to vary across crops and across regions for a given crop. The total energy use was the highest alfa-alfa at 68941 MJ/HA and it was the least for rainfed wheat. The energy use is relatively high in the mountain area compared to the plain and semi-plain areas for majority of the crops. Irrigated alfa-alfa produced the highest energy acrosse crops and across regions fore a given crops.irregated alfa-alfa produced the highest energy of 113076 MJ/Ha,mhile rainfed sunflower produced the least energy of 6875 MJ/Ha. The sole exception being the mountain area where the net returns declined marginally due selection of the high energy yielding but negative return producing checpea crop in the optimal plan. The study thus makes out a clear case for introduction of intensive efforts by the extension agency to educate the farmers for efficient use of energy in agriculture.
