Efficiency and Functional analysis of cotton production in Turkey: case of Kahramanmaras Province

The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency measurements of the cotton enterprises in Kahramanmara$ province of Turkey and the factors affecting the economic efficiency. Besides, the relationship between the income of the cotton enterprises and the effective factors on the income was analyzed by functional analyses. The data were obtained from 67 cotton producers in Kahramanmara$ province. Data envelopment analysis was used in order to determine the efficiency in cotton production. Two-stage approach was used in order to determine the effects of several variables on efficiency. The econometric analysis of the factors effective on cotton production was performed by Cobb-Douglas production function. In the study, technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency were calculated as 0.822, 0.907, 0.908, 0.682 and 0.616, respectively. Besides, it was concluded that 34.33% of the enterprises had constant return to scale, 46.27% of the enterprises had decreasing return to scale and 19.40% of the enterprises had increasing return to scale. According to Tobit model results, it was determined that the education period and land size affected the economic efficiency positively and stock farming activity and credit use affected the economic efficiency negatively. In functional analysis, the fertilizer costs and fuel costs variables were determined as statistically significant. The efficiency coefficients were calculated as 0.18 for labor, 1.38 for fertilizer, -0.20 for pesticide, 0.72 for seed, 0.07 for equipment rent and 1.24 for fuel. According to the results, in can be concluded that the efficient use of inputs will contribute to the reduction of the costs and increment of the profit margin.