Fecha de publicación: 01/01/2025 Fuente: Food sciences and nutrition Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the efficiency of technical, specialized, and economic resources in potato crop production in Baghdad Governorate during the 2022–2023 agricultural seasons to identify the primary factors affecting the utilization of resources to increase production and measure the sustainability efficiency of the sample farms. Data were obtained from 125 farmers, and the envelopment analysis method was used for analysis. The independent variables included the quantity of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, nutrients, and fuel; the hours of mechanical work and family and paid work; and frequency of irrigation, while the dependent variable was the total potato production. The results indicated the farmers’ education at the intermediate level was 32%, and their main source of income was potato crop production, constituting 76% of the total income. Manual harvesting was the main method used (92%). The farmers achieved average technical efficiency of 71%, specialized efficiency of 77%, and economic efficiency (EE) of 65%. This was due to the high prices of production requirements, as well as the inefficiency and waste in exploiting production resources that were not at the optimal level. A significant difference was observed between the actual quantities used by farmers and those required to achieve EE. The sustainability efficiency reached approximately 0.91, indicating the efficiency of farmers in using resources. However, this improvement in the level of productivity was not good. Therefore, this study recommends that agricultural advisory centers should educate and inform farmers about the recommended usage quantities, provide loans to purchase production requirements, and reduce the increase in production costs.