Leen Badawi*¹, Zainab Hasso¹ and Khetam Edrees²

1Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria.
2 General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Economic and Social Studies Department.
(*Corresponding author: Eng. Leen Badawi, Email: Leen.badawi@alepuniv,edu.sy)

Received:31 /01 / 2026    Accepted:8 / 04/ 2026

This research aimed to estimate the cotton production function and analyze the economic efficiency of inputs used in its cultivation in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, employing a Cobb-Douglas model. The analysis relied on field data collected from (109) cotton farms during the 2024 agricultural season. The results demonstrated that the following inputs had a statistically significant positive effect on cotton productivity across all farm size categories: chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and human labor. Furthermore, economic efficiency coefficients exceeding one indicated the potential to increase profits through a measured expansion in the use of these inputs until their marginal value product equals their marginal cost. The total production elasticity was estimated at 0.748, suggesting the presence of decreasing returns to scale. Additionally, the analysis revealed that farmers are not operating at the profit-maximizing optimum levels, as the actual quantities used of key inputs (such as fertilizer, pesticides, and labor) were lower than the theoretically calculated optimal quantities. In light of these findings, the research recommends: guiding farmers towards optimal input usage levels, strengthening agricultural extension efforts to disseminate marginal economic concepts, and increasing reliance on farm mechanization to enhance economic efficiency and productivity.

Keywords: Production function, Returns to scale, Economic efficiency, Cotton, Cobb-Douglas.

 Full paper in Arabic: PDF