دراسة اقتصادية لكفاءة تصنيع التمور في و احة سيوه

الملخص EN

Dates industry is considered one of the most important and most widespread in Siwa Oasis.

This industry is carried out by low-capacities plants, which may result in a decrease efficiency of date manufacturing, and also in a deviation of the economic resources using from the optimal using.

Therefore, the problem of the study is represented in the following two questions: Is there a decrease in the level of technical, distributive, economic and scale efficiency in the plants of drying and packing dates in Siwa Oasis? what the extent of deviation in the use of economic resources from the optimal use in these plants ? consequently, the study aimed to determine the performance of drying and packing dates plants in Siwa Oasis, as an attempt to provide some recommendations that may contribute in the development of date production, and achieve optimal utilization of the available agricultural resources.

The study used descriptive and quantitative statistical analysis methods based on the field data that were collected by the questionnaire forms of the overall survey for the 7 date plants in Siwa Oasis.

By using Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) model to estimate the technical efficiency (according a constant and variable return to scale), the scale efficiency, the allocative efficiency, and the economic efficiency for the plants of dates packaging in Siwa Oasis at the level of each category separately, The study reached the following results: • According to a constant return to scale, the technical efficiency for the plants of dates packaging in the first category ranged between a minimum of 67.5% and a maximum of 90.3%, with an average of 79.8%, whereas, according to a variable return to scale, the technical efficiency ranged between a minimum of 83.3% and a maximum of 96.6%, with an average of 90.3%.

Consequently, the scale efficiency ranged between a minimum of 81% and a maximum of 93.5%, with an average of 88.2%.

According to a constant return to scale, the technical efficiency for the plants of dates packaging in the second category ranged between a minimum of 85.7% and a maximum of 100%, with an average of 93.1%, whereas, according to a variable return to scale, the technical efficiency ranged between a minimum of 91.7% and a maximum of 100%, with an average 96.8%.

Consequently, the scale efficiency ranged between a minimum of 93.5% and a maximum of 100%, with an average of 96.1%.

• According to a constant return to scale, the average of technical efficiency for the plants of dates packaging at the level of Siwa Oasis amounted about 86.5%, whereas, according to a variable return to scale, the technical efficiency amounted about 93.6%, so the average of scale efficiency amounted about 92.2%.

• The allocative efficiency for the plants of dates packaging in the first category ranged between a minimum of about 69.6% and a maximum of 88.5%, with an average of about 80.9%.

whereas, the economic efficiency ranged between a minimum of 60.2% and a maximum of about 85.5%, with an average estimated at about 73.2%.

• The allocative efficiency for the plants of dates packaging in the second category ranged between a minimum of about 89.9% and a maximum of about 96.6%, with an average of about 92.3%.

whereas, the economic efficiency ranged between a minimum of about 83% and a maximum of about 95.3%, with an average of about 89.4%.

• The average of the allocative efficiency for the plants of dates packaging at the level of the Siwa Oasis amounted about 86.6%, and the average of economic efficiency amounted about 81.3%.

Estimating the stochastic frontier production function for the plants of dates packaging in Siwa Oasis using the method of (ML), The results indicated that there is no large extravagances in the using of all economic resources in these plants, but it is still below the optimal levels to achieve the perfect efficiency.

The study also found that there is a large difference in the efficiency of using economic resources among the plants of dates packaging under the study, which is due to the low efficiency of plants in first category in comparison with plants in the second category.

In light of the previous results, the study provided some recommendations, which represented in: restructuring the date industry sector in Siwa Oasis through the establishment of modern plants with higher technological levels and larger capacities, rationalizing the use of economic resources, providing the needed governmental financial support for the establishment of new date plants, as well as to replace old plants with the modern ones.