Wael Habib*(1) and Fayez Almokdad(2)
(1). Agro-Economy, Latakia Agricultural Research Center, General Commission of Scientific Agricultural Researches (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(2). Socio Economic Studies Research, (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Wael Habib. E-Mail: wael.ha76@gmail.com).
Received: 14/04/2018 Accepted: 15/06/2018
Abstract
The objective of the research is to analyze the technical efficiency of olive fruits production in the coastal region of Syria in order to identify the factors that influence the increase of production and technical efficiency. Based on a regular stratified sample of 383 farmers randomly selected from the villages of Latakia and Tartous governorates, according to their contribution to total production. The research used the method of stochastic Frontier Production Function analysis, which is based on the analysis of production variables and technical efficiency. The results showed a positive relationship between the area of the farm and olive production. The increase of the area by 100% leaded to an increase in production by 21.9%. This conclusion is related to the concept of economic scale of farm size. In addition, the use of chemical fertilizers on production has been positive. The increase in the quantity of chemical fertilizers by 100% has led to an increase in production by 10.3%. In terms of technical efficiency (TE), increasing the farmers’ dependence on olives as a source of income (1%) has increased the technical efficiency of producing olive fruits by (0.8%). While this technical efficiency decreased by (2.8%) and (8%) with one increase in both tree density and soil slope, respectively. The levels of TE were increased by 8.9% when moving from poor soils to fertile soils. The most important that the closer the period of pruning of olive trees by one year, the higher the technical efficiency levels for the production of olive fruits by 10.3%. In general, the technical efficiency of the research sample was 68.21%. This indicated a gap of 31.8%, which reflected the low levels of technical efficiency of olive fruits production in the sample.
Key words: Olive production in Syria, Technical efficiency, Production function.
Full Paper in Arabic: PDF