Measuring technical efficiency of wheat farmers in Egypt

• Published in: Research in Agricultural & Applied Economics
• Main Author: Croppenstedt, André
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: St. Paul Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) 01.07.2005
• Edition: 854
• Series: ESA Working Paper 05-06
• Subjects: Agricultural and Food Policy; Economic analysis; Farm Management
• ISSN: 2521-1838
• DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.289072

Liberalization of Egyptian agricultural policy and new wheat technology has led to significant increases in area allocated to wheat as well as wheat yields. The wheat self-sufficiency ratio increased from 21 percent in 1986 to about 59 percent over the 2001-03 period. However, the country still imports 4-5 million tonnes of wheat per year. This paper addresses the issue of what kind of output gains can be achieved from improving technical efficiency, i.e. how much more output can be produced with the given levels of inputs and current technology. On average wheat farmers are found to operate 20 percent below the potential output. Better information on irrigation management and two or more extension visits were found to raise output by 14 and 7 percent respectively. However, neither factor was found to affect technical efficiency. Technical efficiency was found not to vary with farm size.