An Econometrics Study of Estimate and Analyze a Cost Function for Beekeeping Fields in Halabja Governorate

Abstract

The research aimed to determine the optimum production quantity and find the optimum scale of production (number of beehives) by estimating and analyzing the cost function of beekeeping fields in Halabja governorate. The questionnaire was adopted for the purpose of collecting the necessary data for the research, by selecting a random sample consisting of 30 fields (representing 15% of the population). The cubic function was adopted to conduct the search. The results of the study showed that:

Fixed costs represent 93.8% of the total costs, and variable costs constitute 6.2% of the total costs. There is a great discrepancy between Actual production in beekeeping fields in the mentioned province, whether in terms of quantity produced or the scale of production used and the optimum level of output and the optimum scale of production, as it was found from the study that the average actual produced quantities are estimated at about 290 kg of honey with the scale of production about 88 beehives. While the optimum level of production reached 398,159 kg of honey, and the optimum scale of production for this level was 151 beehives. This indicates the failure of the beekeeping fields to achieve the optimum level of output and the corresponding production capacity as a result of the misuse of economic resources.