Abstract: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Egyptian Association of Agricultural Economics, Vol. (26), No. (2), June 2016.
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Fayoum governorate is Considered appropriate for the cultivation of sesame crop in terms of sandy land and weather conditions and the long experience of farmers, which makes Fayoum governorate have a comparative advantage in the production of sesame crop. But the cultivated sesame area decreased at the level of the country from 72.1 feddan in 2002 to about 63.8 feddan in 2014, or about 11.4%, Cultivated area in Fayoum governorate has also decreased from about 4.4 thousand feddan in 2002 to about 3.4 feddan in 2014, an average of 22%, although the Fayoum governorate increased newly reclaimed areas. It is required know to the reasons for the reluctance of farmers for the cultivation of sesame crop, which requires the measurement of the efficiency of production resources used in the production of the crop.
The study aims to examine the possibility of achieving technical and economic efficiency of various agricultural resources used to cultivate sesame to achieve the maximum return to support expansion in the cultivation of the crop, The study aims to examine the possibility of achieving technical and economic efficiency of various agricultural resources used to cultivate sesame to achieve the maximum return to support expansion in the cultivation of the crop, trying to raise the efficiency of use of available economic resources, i.e., cost reduction to the lowest level to achieve the maximum profit possible, To achieve this objective study used data development analysis (DEA) to direct the resources used for the cultivation of sesame in Fayoum governorate in order to achieve economic efficiency, and expansion in its cultivation.
The study sample was divided into four categories of holdings, according to farm area. the first category (less than feddan), Category II (feddan), the third category (greater than one feddan to less than three feddans), and Category IV (greater than three feddans .the target of this division is to compare the efficiency of these categories, to reach the optimal size of the farm.
The study found a range of results including:
Outweigh of the technical efficiency indicators under fixed-rate and variable-capacity third category compared to the first, second and fourth categories for the where average capacity efficiency for the third category amounted to about 91%, while the reached about 82% .79% .87% for the first, second and fourth categories respectively. There is a need for attention to guidance and counseling programs for the third category to raise the amplitude competence. It turns out that the allocative efficiency of economic resources used by the fourth category has outperformed other categories under both constant and variable returns to scale. Which shows that the greater the area under cultivation the higher the efficiency of resources used in production.
Results of the study also showed that allocative efficiency of economic resources used by the fourth category has outperformed other groups under both constant and variable returns to scale, Which shows that the more cultivated area the easier to achieve efficient use of economic resources, which can be used to estimate the optimum size of the resources used in the production of sesame and compare it with the actual size.
When comparing the actual and optimization sizes of the resources used at the sample level, it is clear that. It is importance to reduce the average actual area, according to the concept of constant returns to scale, where the amount of the surplus reached 32.3%, it is also important to lower the actual quantities used of manure, the number of automated work hours, human labor, the amount of chemical fertilizer, and the amount of seeds by about 62.9%, 58.5%, 50.8%, 30.6%, 51.3% so that economic efficiency can be achieved, In light of variable returns to scale comparison between average actual and optimum areas showed we that can reduce the average actual area by about 24%, and lower the actual quantities used of manure, the number of automated work hours, human labor, the amount of chemical fertilizer, and the amount of seeds by about 44.5%, 55.5%, 34%, 35.6%, 40%, respectively.
An estimate for the amount of resources that can be saved showed that savings under the fixed return are better than under variable return, where the total sample can save about 15.4 cubic meters of manure valued at 338.8 pounds, While the amount saved of automatic work hours amounted to about 12 hours / farm worth about 804 pounds, while the amount of spavined of human labor, chemical fertilizers, and seeds reached about 26.9 man / day, 100.7, 4.1 kg respectively, valued at 1748.5, 302.82 pounds each, respectively.
The study recommends the following:
- State support for sesame crop like other strategic crops because of its economic importance, as sesame seeds are high characterized by oil content, protein and calcium where oil range from 35: 65%, which is higher than the oil content in other oil crop.
- Activating the role of agricultural extension in delivering recommendations of the research and studies to producers in order to raise the economic Efficiency of sesame crop production .
- Work on raising the guarantee price of the crop and the declaration of its price and the expected return before the planting season to encourage farmers cultivate the crop instead of their reluctance.
- Educate sesame crop farmers to use scientific method in their farm management to reduce wastage of resources used to cut costs and increase total revenue ,in addition to using high yielding varieties.
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