Redwan al gasem1*

1Directorate of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Syria.
(*Corresponding author :Redwan algasem, Email: redwanalgasem@gmail.com).

Received: 3/10 /2025    Accepted: 4/03 /2026

Abstract

The aim of this research was to estimate the demand functions for fertilizers used in saffron (stigma) production in Homs Governorate for the 2023/2024 agricultural season. All data were collected from crop farmers, with most farmers using two types of fertilizers: organic and chemical. The research relied on the Cobb-Douglas production function to estimate the production functions. Therefore, the production function was used to estimate the cost function. The cost functions were then used to derive fertilizer demand functions using Shepherd’s Lemma. The elasticities of saffron production for both organic and chemical fertilizers were (1.147 and 2.9), respectively. The research results also showed that the costs of producing saffron stigmas increase at an increasing rate with the prices of fertilizer inputs. The demand functions for organic and chemical fertilizers are homogeneous at degree zero with respect to input prices, meaning that when all input prices are doubled, the demand functions for both remain unchanged.

Keywords: Chemical Fertilizers, Production Functions, Equal Product Curve, Cost Functions, Conditional Demand Functions.

 Full paper in Arabic: PDF