AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS OF PEPPER (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.) CROP UNDER THE GREENHOUSES IN ANBAR GOVERNORATE FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SEASON 2019-2020

Abstract

The research aimed to analyze the costs of producing pepper crop under the greenhouses in Anbar governorate for the agricultural season (2019-2020) based on the field data for 16 random samples of pepper farms under the greenhouses of Anbar Governorate. The analysis results showed that the fixed costs constituted about (38.77%), while the variable costs constituted about (61.23%) of the total costs, and the average production costs in the research sample amounted to (101178) dinars/ton. The long-run cubic function was the best among the functions that express the relationship between production costs as a dependent variable and production. Besides, the number of greenhouses on the farm independent variables, due to their similarity with the logic of the economic theory. The adjusted R squared (R 2 ) in it reached (0.87), while the value of F reached (0.362704), which is not significant at the level of 5%. On the other hand, it was found that the optimal size of the farm represented by the number of greenhouses in it is 6 greenhouses, where it achieved the optimum production size of (59.3) tons/farm, with an average cost of about (35000) dinars/ton. Moreover, (37.5%) of the farmers in the study sample achieve an economy of scale, while (18.75%) do not achieve any economies of scale. However, the percentage of farmers who achieve low rates of economic efficiency is about (43.75%). Finally, the supply function shows that the elasticity of supply decreases with the increase in production, which means that the farms have great difficulty controlling production if prices change.