The Productive and Economic Efficiency of Major Cereal Crops in Menoufia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

The research problem centers on the need for metrics or indicators to assess the efficiency of production and marketing activities, ultimately serving the interests of both producers and consumers. Given the observed decline in the production and marketing efficiency of these crops, reflected in fluctuations in cultivated areas, this research aims to determine the productive and economic efficiency of the two crops under study. and identifying the key factors influencing each case, as well as specific economic indicators to analyze and present the primary findings. These data were gathered from two sources: secondary data, both published and unpublished, obtained from various entities; and primary data, collected through personal interviews with the study sample using a questionnaire specifically designed for this research. The study also analyzed the temporal trends in the evolution of cultivated area, productivity, and total production for wheat and maize crops in Menoufia Governorate during the period (2012–2023), employing linear, quadratic, and cubic regression models. The results indicated that the area cultivated with wheat followed a significant downward trend, decreasing at a rate of approximately 3.773 thousand feddans annually. Wheat production declined at an annual rate of 90.145 thousand ardabs, whereas wheat productivity followed a significant quadratic trend, reflecting a gradual improvement following a period of decline. Additionally, the area cultivated with maize exhibited a significant cubic trend with a coefficient of determination of 64.5%; conversely, no significant time trend was observed for either yield per feddan or total production volume during the study period, reflecting the persistent gap between domestic production and consumption, as well as the local market's reliance on imports to meet a portion of food requirements. The study of the productive and economic efficiency of the crops under analysis revealed that the production elasticities for wheat are positive across the various factors of production; wheat output is positively correlated with the quantities of these factors employed. The sum of the elasticities for the production factors involved in wheat cultivation was approximately 1.01, reflecting constant returns to scale, meaning that an increase in the combined quantities of production factors results in a proportional increase in output. Regarding the maize crop, the study results indicated that production elasticities for production inputs were positive, with the exception of human labor and seeds. This is attributed to farmers' reliance on family labor driven by high hired labor costs and the prevalence of small landholdings in the governorate, as well as the crop's low profitability and its cultivation primarily for feeding the farm's livestock and poultry amidst rising feed prices; this suggests an excessive use of human labor resulting from the reliance on family labor.