Econometric Analysis of the Cost Functions of Spring Potatoes in Hama Government-Alghab Region

Moammar Dayoub*(1) Ibrahim Abdullah(2) Ramez Hamada(2) and Bassam Ali(3)

(1). Salamieh Agricultural Rresearch Center, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(2). Alghab Agricultural Research Center, (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(3). Administration of Economic and Social Studies, (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Moammar Dayoub. E-Mail: m-dayoub@hotmail.com).

Received: 07/09/ 2015                                     Accepted: 01/01/ 2016

Abstract

The research was conducted in Hama governorate-Alghab region, and it based on a random sample of 135 spring potatoes farmers. Data was collected using special questionnaire designed for this purpose. The research aimed to estimate the cost functions in order to reach economic sizes of production and farm. The results showed that the optimum size, which minimize the cost was 40464.6 kg/ha, for the first category (less than 1 hectare), while the average actual production was 19031.25 kg/ha, but the optimum size for the third category (more than 3 hectares) was 43855.9 kg/ha, and the actual production was 26675 kg/ha. The study revealed also that the optimum size of the farm is 4.85 hectares, and the average farm size of the sample was 1.64. Level of profitability stood at 145.69% for the first category and reached 194.59% for the third one. The average cost also declined from 12.46 S.P. /Kg for the first category to 11.05 S.P. /Kg for the third one. The study emphasized the need to aggregate holdings in order to reduce production costs and to achieve better returns to scale.

Keywords: Spring potatoes, Economic scale, Cost function.

Full paper in Arabic: Econometric Analysis of the Cost Functions of Spring Potatoes in Hama Government-Alghab Region