AN ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY OF PEANUT PRODUCTION IN THE NEW VALLEY GOVERNORATE

Abdelrahman, Mohammed A.; Abdel-Fatah, Mohamed O.; Abdel Hadi, Mohamed A.

doi:10.21608/jes.2025.384148.2012

AN ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY OF PEANUT PRODUCTION IN THE NEW VALLEY GOVERNORATE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Environmental Research, Ain Shams University

² Department of Agricultural Economics , Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University

³ Department of Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University

10.21608/jes.2025.384148.2012

Abstract

In light of the Egyptian state's current efforts to rationalize resource use and adopt a sustainability approach, this study fills a significant knowledge gap by analyzing peanut production economically and environmentally, and providing recommendations based on actual data from a field sample of 50 farmers in the New Valley Governorate. The study relies on an analysis of production and cost functions to measure economic efficiency, in addition to surveying farmers' environmental behaviors and their level of awareness of the environmental impact of their agricultural activities. The results of this study will contribute to guiding agricultural and environmental policies in the governorate. It will also assist decision-makers in designing targeted agricultural interventions and providing technical and financial support to farmers to achieve optimal resource use and enhance the governorate's ability to expand peanut cultivation in a sustainable manner. The elasticity of production costs was estimated at about 0.76, which indicates that peanut production at the level of the total study sample achieves economic efficiency, given that production takes place in the stage of increasing returns to capacity, which is the economic stage of production. The producer (farmer) can achieve capacity savings from production in this economic stage, i.e. an increase in the return to capacity as a result of increasing production by a percentage greater than the percentage of increase in costs, or a decrease in average costs with increasing production, as long as his production does not exceed the optimal production size for costs.

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