Technical Efficiency of Grape Production In the Central Region of Syria

Abstract

The aim of this research is to estimate the technical efficiency of grape production under irrigated and rainfed conditions in both the governorates of Homs and Hama, and to identify the most important economic and social characteristics and performance indicators for grape producers affecting the technical inefficiency, by collecting (377) questionnaires from the central region of the agricultural season ( 2018-2019), the research reached a set of results, the most prominent of which was that the production of irrigated grapes was affected by the variables (chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer and the amount of irrigation water), while its rainfed counterpart was affected by the variables (chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer and the number of tillers). The technical efficiency was affected significantly and negatively by each of the farmer's experience and the method of irrigation at the level of significance (5%), and thus positively on the technical efficiency of production. On the other hand, the experience of the farmer and the size of the possession affected negatively, at the level of significance (5%), in the inefficiency model in the case of rainfed grapes.   As the increase in the size of possession can contribute to the introduction of technological means more.                        

   It turned out that the average technical efficiency of irrigated grape production farms in the study area amounted to (78%), while for rain-fed grapes (81%), i.e. there is a decrease in efficiency of (22-19%), respectively, due to poor efficiency in the use of production inputs or as a result of the effect of Characteristics of the farmer and the farm.