Functional Analysis of Thyme Production in Denizli Province

Abstract

This study aimed to conduct an econometric analysis of thyme production in Denizli province agricultural enterprises. The data used in the research were obtained through face-to-face questionnaires in 82 agricultural enterprises determined according to the Simple Random Sampling Method. Research findings revealed that to obtain an average yield of 95.10 kg per decare, 10.296 seedlings, 8,93 cc pesticides, 52.34 kg of chemical fertilizers, 16.57 liters of diesel, 4.49 hours of machinery, and 17.84 hours of labor were needed. In this study, the relationships between the amount of thyme production and the number of seedlings, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and the machinery used in the whole production, the amount of diesel, the amount of labor used, and the production area were analyzed with the help of the Cobb-Douglas production function. The coefficient of determination for the estimation equation was 0.89 and was found to be significant at the 1% level. Among the variables included in the estimation equation, the production elasticity coefficients of pesticide use and diesel use were negative, while the production elasticity coefficients of the seedling number, chemical fertilizer amount, labor, and production area variables were found to be positive. The fact that the sum of the production elasticity coefficients of the factors in the estimation equation for the amount of thyme production (∑βi) was 1.12 indicates there is increasing returns to scale. Among the variables in the production function, the variables with marginal efficiency coefficient above 1 were determined as the production area (3.20) and the fertilizer factor (1.33). The research findings revealed that production factors, except fertilizer amount and production area inputs, were not used effectively in thyme production.