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  • Efficiency evaluation of service marketing in a Hungarian Telecommunication Company
    45-51
    Views:
    139

    It is unquestionable that marketing is an essential promotor of the economy and commerce. With its diverse tools, it can influence consumers and also regulate supply by measuring needs and demands (Bauer-Berács, 1998). Although the roots of marketing go back centuries, it is interesting that the raison d’être of service marketing was disputed even in the 1960s and 1970s. However, by today it has developed into a substantive specialty. In this study, the inquiry service and the implemented marketing tools of a leading Hungarian telecommunications company were studied for four years. (The data was provided by the communication manager of the company. Being bound to secrecy, I will not disclose the name  of the company or the inquiry service.)

  • Measuring efficiency of intellectual capital in agriculture sector of Vojvodina
    25-31
    Views:
    140

    During three-hundred-year history of the market economy, the main sources of wealth creation have changed from the natural resources (mainly land and relatively unskilled labor with the exception of the master craftsman), tangible material assets (buildings, machinery and equipment, funds) to intangible assets (knowledge and information of all types) that may be contained in the people, organizations, or physical resources. In the later period of the twentieth century, science has acquired the features of direct production force. The term direct implies that unlike the relationship which existed between science and production in the IXX century, where scientific advances was incorporated through the physical labor in the tools, which, in turn, created new value through the physical labor, the relationship between science and production has become all direct, immediate, because the scientific advances allowed the funds to be produced with less labor and allowed funds itself to become "smarter" and as such to require less human intervention and human physical labor in the final production process.As a result, the need for physical labor continuously declined with time, and the application of labor is moved from direct production to processes of preparing and organizing production. Also, a large part of today's knowledge that is used in production is not embodied in machinery, and the effects of this are immense.

  • Green house gas mitigation and headline targets of Europe 2020 strategy
    109-117
    Views:
    104

    Climate change is considered as one of the biggest challenges of XXI century and global action is needed to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHG) and adapt to changing water levels and temperatures, which affect food supply and ecosystem integrity. Climate change will have significant economic and social impacts in many regions of EU and sectors like agriculture is considered to bear greater adverse affects. Less developed regions and certain sections of society (the elderly and/or low-income households) are expected to suffer more from climate change. Climate change policy of EU, adopted in December 2008, includes ambitious targets for 2020. The policy is focused on a sustainable future with an energy-efficient economy by (i) cutting greenhouse gases by 20% (30% if international agreement is reached), (ii) reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency and iii) meeting 20% of energy needs from renewable sources. In the frame of the headline targets of Europe 2020 Strategy, this paper discusses most important greenhouse gas-emitting activities in agriculture, emphasizes the importance structural changes through the modernisation of infrastructure particularly in developing regions of EU and calls for enhancing the competitiveness of economy to promote energy efficiency.

  • Profitability and efficiency – an analysis of the financial impact of the Szechenyi Plan in the Hungarian hospitality industry
    51-56
    Views:
    157

    Continuous changes in the market and macroeconomic factors have made a significant effect on the tourism sector in Hungary. A heavily growing number of hotels could be observed in the past decade. The main question about the hotels built with high investment costs was their expected time of return. Keeping Hungary’s natural conditions in mind, is it more expedient to build new hotels or refurbish old ones? I was seeking answers for these questions during my work. My research was aiming to explore the impacts of the non-refundable subsidies – financed by the government – provided for new health and wellness hotel projects carried out within the framework of the Széchenyi Plan. On the other hand, my study was expanded to the analysis of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts data of the hotels of Hungary according to their star (quality) rating. The major findings of the research: Considering high developmental costs subsidies play an important role in the hotel industry. It is impossible to carry out such investments using internal sources only. However, exclusive bank loans finance could drive insolvency so it is extremely risky. Non-refundable subsides provided for hotel investments created stable, countable payroll taxes and other forms of incomes for the country. In order to achieve more profitable operation, providing higher quality of services is indispensable. Taking Hungary’s conditions into account this can be reached more likely among four star rated hotels than any other star (quality) ranked establishments.

  • Ecological aspects of increasing intensity in pepper forcing with prime attention to the type of the growing equipment
    81-87
    Views:
    111

    Significant amount of profit can be generated in forcing technologies by the efficient use of different elements in growing technologies, however, improving production intensity is on the agenda in the sector. Pepper forcing, as the most significant class of vegetable forcing, practically takes place under all the growing equipment widespread in our country, but there is a considerable difference in context of profitability and efficiency. This paper wonders whether the most intensive technology in pepper forcing is efficient regarding the use of forcing equipment, namely modern greenhouses, or growing under greenhouses with significantly lower investment cost is more efficient. The analysis represents cost-income factors and efficiency assessed on a long-term basis of different technologies via a deterministic model based on producers’ data collections. As a result of the research, economic indicators are calculated based on exact results which will help to conduct a comparative assessment of economic features in technological varieties.

    JEL code: Q12

  • Enhancing the effectiveness of thermal water consumption via heat pumping
    53-58
    Views:
    134

    Renewable technologies and the extension of their scope of usage basically has to face the general obstacles like any other novelties newly introduced to the market. In the case of environmentally friendly and clean technologies we must consider another critical aspect: the knowledge and the trust of the potential future users. To influence these people first we must extend their knowledge regarding renewable energies so they will be able to change their own approach about them. Usually the most crucial factor is the economic efficiency which determines the attitude of the majority of the users. Even the ones whose decision making process is highly based on the environmental patterns. In the case of any technology, the economic aspect is significantly influenced by its operational effectiveness. So this analysis – besides the direct economic matters – aims to examine how the performance of thermal water heating in greenhouses can be improved by using heat pumping.

    JEL classification: Q42

  • Urban Food Crop Farming and Farm Households’ Food Security Status in Oyo State, Nigeria
    23-28
    Views:
    159

    Food production and supply has been on the decline in Nigeria with a consequent impact on household food security. This study examined the influence of urban farming on household food security in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 159 farm households in a cross-sectional survey. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-economic characteristics, determine the food security status of urban crop farming households in the study area, and examine the effects of urban crop production on households’ food security status. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics while the statistical tools were Food Security Index (FSI) and Probit Regression Model (PRM). Results revealed that 84.9% of the respondents was male, 81.2% married. The average age, household size, and farm size were 49.6 years, 6 persons, 1.1 hectares respectively. Most (75.5%) of the respondents did not have access to consumption credit and 62.3% did not belong to any farmers association. Based on minimum daily energy requirement per adult equivalent of N230.8, 90.6% of the farm households was food secure.

    The PRM showed that age (β = -0.1, p<0.05), household size (β= -0.4, p<0.01) and economic efficiency (β = -61.6, p<0.05) reduced the probability of household food security while access to consumption credit (β= 1.7, p<0.05) and allocative efficiency (β = 67.9, p<0.05) increased the probability of household food security. The study concluded that urban farming significantly influence household food security.

    JEL Classification: Q11

  • OPERATING RESULTS OF SILAGE ENTERPRISE OF A FARM - A CASE STUDY
    Views:
    73

    Improvements in agriculture has been focusing on innovations to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the traditional production structure currently in use more flexible and by making the necessary technological changes for farmers with large areas and the necessary machinery and equipment. Farms with significant arable land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficiency and profitability. The decisive sector of agriculture in Hungary is crop production, therefore its performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop sector and the volatility in prices. From the farm data, we calculated farm-level results that support the need for machinery modernisation efforts, as precision tools and improvements already started in maize production can be applied fruitfully even in the light of the increasing frequency of negative climatic effects. During the development of silage maize cultivation technology, the achievements of precision farming were applied. Differentiated nutrient replenishment and sowing operations were used, in addition to the fact that harvesting was also documented. We set ourselves the goal of analyzing the management data of the study period between 2019-2022 in order to reveal the nature of the changes that occurred in terms of production value, production cost, and income, as well as the components that shape them. The presented values ​​are average values ​​of such conditions which are also suitable for crop-level conclusions. At the same time, they can be used to identify sector-level challenges and trends.

  • The Position Losing of Animal Husbandry in Agriculture
    63-66
    Views:
    59

    The author in the presentation deals with the fact that what caused the decline of animal husbandry in contrast with plant production; how this unfavourable ratio of 60:40 could evolve when comparing plant production and animal husbandry What the reason is for the decreasing animal stock; and how the effect of changes in the elements of the economic efficiency such as yields, prices, subsidies, production value, inputs, costs, profits can be evaluated in case of more important animal husbandry enterprises highlighting several significant animal products.

  • Economic analysis of some agrotechnical factors in maize production - a Hungarian case study
    5-16
    Views:
    385

    This paper focuses on the economic and statistical evaluation of the production technology findings of the polyfactorial maize production experiments carried out between 2015-2017 at the Látókép Experiment Site of the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management. The examined agrotechnical factors included irrigation, previous crop, tillage, crop density, hybrid and N nutrient supply, while the effect of different crop years was taken into consideration. In addition to descriptive statistical methods, we used multivariate regression analysis during the statistical evaluation. In the course of the evaluation, we examined three models that differed in terms of tillage methods and the consideration of crop year. In our best fit model, the factors were 71% responsible for the change in yield value. We carried out efficiency and comparative analyses in the course of the economic evaluation.
    Averaged over the three examined years, it can be stated that nutrient supply and crop year had an outstanding effect on yield, while irrigation had a minimal effect. However, global warming may justify irrigation in the future, not only from a biological point of view, but also from an economic aspect.
    Ideal tillage is also greatly affected by crop year, too. Altogether, of the examined tillage systems, subsoiling proved to be the best from an economic point of view.
    Our investigations confirm that it is better to perform intensive farming under more favourable market conditions. The optimum of N fertilisation is probably outside of the range we examined, if the extreme changes in maize and fertiliser prices are ignored.

    JEL Classification: Q16, Q12, Q13, O32

  • Selection of agricultural land for multifunctional agriculture
    49-52
    Views:
    119

    The modern concept of rural development implies the use of agricultural resources, primarily agricultural land, for other (non-agricultural) activities besides its agricultural purpose. The integral aim of this concept of rural development is the maximization of economic results, besides the sustainable development of rural areas, environmental protection and the production of strategic (staple) agricultural products. The objective of this paper is to define the general, theoretical, quantitative model for the determination of the size and quality of agricultural land which, considering the above-mentioned demands (criteria), is optimal for the utilization in agricultural production in certain regions. The remaining agricultural land would be available for the non-agricultural purposes. The economic optimal model for the selection of agricultural land in the traditional agriculture is the model of linear programming. The criteria of the land selection for traditional agriculture are the economic effectiveness (measured by net income or by gross national product) and the economic efficiency (measured by the production economy). The maximum economic effectiveness is determined by the standard method of linear programming and the maximum economy by the method of broken linear programming. The solution of compromise can be determined by multi-criteria programming, based on the minimum differences. The limitation groups in the mentioned variations of the model are: limitations of production quotas of agricultural products, minimum quantities of staple agricultural products, limitations of processing plants in a region (minimum and maximum), limitation of crop rotation, limitations of the needs in animal husbandry for bulky for age and limitations of agricultural land according to various types of utilization. By quantitative defining of the structure and size of agricultural land for traditional agriculture, “the surplus” and structure of agricultural land available for non-agricultural purposes is automatically determined.

  • The analysis of absorption capacity of project beneficiaries contributing to cross-border programmes based on the most fundamental criteria
    93-100
    Views:
    121

    Subsequent to the experience with the international aid programmes of the 1990’s, from the very beginning of the accession negotiations and since 2004 in particular, the notion of absorption capacity of using EU funds has gradually been in focus. The subject of early scientific investigations concentrated mainly on the analysis of the macro-economic conditions of individual countries; furthermore, on increasing absorption capacities as well as how to develop the institutional system of cohesion policy further. After 2004, however, succeeding further rounds of the enlargement as well as after the programming period 2007-2013 in particular – meaning as well the conclusion of the EU budgetary period – the analysis of absorption capacities could be produced at the level of project beneficiaries. The aim of this study is to examine the most prominent determinants influencing successful outcomes and the quality of vigorous projects managed by potent beneficiaries and consortia participating in the European Territorial Co-operation Programmes with the contribution of Hungary. In the course of research correlations between determinants have been subject to econometric analysis revealing the fact that the implementation capacities of state-owned project beneficiaries and those of the non-governmental sector diverge significantly. Moreover, the study aims to show how the institutional system distributing EU funds tends to be rather lax towards the beneficiaries with weak absorption capacities, thus sacrificing the efficiency of developments for pure statistics.

    JEL code: R58

  • The application of Balanced Scorecard in team sports
    29-32
    Views:
    345

    The present article discusses the application possibilities of the Balanced Scorecard strategic planning and controlling device for businesses managing team sports with the goal of professional efficiency and its long term sustainability.

  • Historical overview of the literature on business performance measurement from the beginning to the present
    39-46
    Views:
    218

    The paper summarizes the concept of business performance and the performance measurement. The concept of business performance has changed a lot over the past decades. The managers have understood that in order to achieve organizational goals, more emphasis should be placed outside the owners, on other market participants, on the stakeholders (eg: customers, clients, employees, suppliers and other partners, local communities, …). The ’90s are also called „The performance measurement revolution”, because a lot of new performance measurement methods, systems appeared. The performance measurements have the prominent role: to collect information about where we are going to achieve the goals, if needed for intervention.

    JEL code: B40

  • The efficiency of porkers production of intensively and extensively feeded
    69-74
    Views:
    125

    The aim of this study is a comparative analysis of the costs of production of intensively and extensively fed porkers in view of the qualitative parameters of meat obtained after slaughter. The production experiment, which involved the parallel fattening of 3 groups of 30 porkers (fed intensively up to a weight of about 120 kg and extensively up to weights of about 100 kg and 120 kg), was carried out between 2011 and 2012 in a deliberately selected farm. The researchers assumed average prices of the means of production and prices of livestock pigs in individual meatiness classes noted in Poland in 2012. The fattening started when the animals weighed about 40 kg. The feeds used for extensive fattening contained less total protein, energy and basic exogenous amino acids, but more raw fibre. The analysis proved that the extensive production of porkers up to 100 kg in 2012 was not profitable. The most profitable production was the intensive production up to 120 kg (a profit of €0.100 per kg, whereas in the extensive feeding up to 120 kg the profit was €0.072 per kg. The porkers which were fed less intensively had a higher slaughter value, thinner fatback, higher dressing percentage and smaller content of fatback in the half-carcase, whereas their meat contained more water and less protein, fat and ash than the meat from the group of porkers fed with the mix richer in protein and energy.

  • Economic issues of duck production: A case study from Hungary
    61-67
    Views:
    140

    The Hungarian waterfowl sector is characterised by export orientation, as 55-57% of the revenue comes from exports, so its importance is high in the national economy. The production of slaughter animals in the duck sector has doubled in the last decade. The objective of the study is to examine production parameters, as well as the cost and profit situation of broiler duck production and to reveal the correlations between the factors with a case study through the example of a Hungarian company. The production parameters and cost data of the investigated farm (2014-2016, 96 production cycles) were analysed using descriptive statistical methods, correlation and regression analysis. The results show that the average cost of the duck produced in intensive, closed farming system was between 72.6 and 101.7 eurocent kg-1. The most significant cost items were feed (52-63%) and chicken cost (14-19%). The sales price decreased from 112.9 eurocent kg-1 to 98.4 eurocent kg-1 during the examined period, resulting in a profit from -3.3 to 25.7 eurocent kg-1, and overall profitability was decreasing. The study also revealed that there was no correlation between average cost and final bodyweight, while the correlation between average cost and reared period was weak. At the same time, the relationship between average cost and average daily weight gain, mortality, feed conversion ratio was moderate. In addition, the European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF) can be adapted to the duck sector as strong, positive relationship can be scientifically verified between the indicator and average cost. There is a close correlation between the sold live weight per m2 and the amount of feed used per m2, as well as between the final bodyweight and the amount of feed used to rear a duck, while the correlation between average cost and the sold live weight per m2 is weak.

    JEL Code: Q13, Q19

  • Economical aspects of thermal and medical tourism
    77-84
    Views:
    148

    Thermal and medical tourism in Hungary are characterised by a continuous development. The management, efficiency, operational effectiveness and offer of enterprises in the field of tourism influence the competitiveness of Hungary’s tourism. In the present day economic life the thorough analysis of the enterprises’ economy is indispensable. The result of the analytical methods applied by the report provide information for different stakeholders (owners, transporters, customers, employees, habilitators). The aim is to have data which inform us about the functioning, financial situation and profitability of the economic entities parallel with the factors and conditions determining these elements. In our paper we present the financial situation of the Demjén Thermal Spa Ltd., being one of the newest thermal spas of Hungary.

  • Investment analysis of a piglet producer farm – a Hungarian case study
    141-152
    Views:
    238

    The pig population in Hungary was about 8 million in 1990, while this number dropped to only 2.8 million by 2018. The previously so successful integrated domestic pig farming has almost completely disappeared and most of the smaller farms still operating in the 1990s are no longer functioning. At present, a process of concentration can be observed, which was accompanied by the further specialization of pig farming. The main profile of most pig farms is fattening, but there is a smaller number of farms in Hungary today specialized for piglet production, the successful operation of which requires significantly more expertise and more complex technology.

    The main aim of this study is to present the production and economic indicators of a pig farm specialized in piglet production in Hungary as a result of a greenfield investment in the current economic environment, on a case study basis. For this purpose, an economic simulation was prepared based on primary data collection, operating on a deterministic basis, modelling the production and economic processes of the farm. The performed calculation does not derive the economic indicators of the activity from accounting records, but assigns the prices of natural inputs used on the basis of technological data. Primary data and information collection (e.g. technological data, input and output prices, unit cost items, etc.) took place between 2018-2019.

    At the purchase prices of pigs in the last two years, which have increased significantly due to the African Swine Fever (ASF), the majority of pig farms in Hungary have an outstanding profit-making capacity. The physical efficiency indicators of the analysed pig farm are almost identical to the average data of such farms in the Netherlands, which has one of the most developed pig industry. The income of the examined pig farm at farm level is about 734 thousand EUR, i.e. 232 EUR per sow. Moreover, this activity is profitable even without subsidies. As a result, the greenfield investment pays off in the 8th year by default (average scenario). The investment has a Net Present Value (NPVr=3%) of EUR 2,609 thousand for 10 years, an Internal Rate of Return of 8.5%, and a Profitability Index (PIr=3%) of 1.3. At the same time, risk factors such as sales prices, output and capacity utilization, and feed costs should be taken into consideration as in extreme cases the return on investment may be unfavourable (pessimistic scenario).

    JEL code: D24, M11, Q12

  • Marketing aspects of consumption of Hungarian pork meat
    109-114
    Views:
    139

    The most important aim of authors’ study is to get to know the Hungarian pork consumption in our days. Our aim is set to estimate pork meat consumption and purchasing habits of consumers who are living in Eastern part of Hungary. The pork section is influenced negatively by several factors nowadays, which have a clear effect on the pork consumption and cause its declination. During the research work a questionnaire survey was made in 2007 and 2008. 1089 persons in different locations of Eastern Hungary were altogether asked. The data were evaluated by statistic hypothesis testing. Based on the evaluation a clear picture was got about the consumers’purchasing and consuming habits, and their ideas, opinions about the Hungarian pork as a food and as an item wearing a kind of national behaviour. Through many questions the volume of consumption was explored, and the pork’s proportion was compared to the rest of other meat types. It is verifiable that the pork consumption can be handled as a national habit, which is not the same by different age groups and educational qualifications. The importance of some factors during purchasing was also examined. Exceptionally important factors are: quality, the appearance, the origin and the price, that were mostly considered by the customers.The effect of pork promotion advertisements and its evaluation by the customers were surveyed too, which in connection with the efficiency showed a fairly stable picture both in 2007 and in 2008. The examination of price elasticity showed that this figure is influenced not just by the product group itself, but the purchasing power of the costumers, as well.

  • Economic, practical impacts of precision farming – with especial regard to harvesting
    141-146
    Views:
    137

    Today agricultural practice is faced with a paradigm shift. In terms of natural resources, the World’s growing population calls for rational management and environment-conscious behaviour. Precision farming may provide a solution for the above mentioned criteria and problems. It has an array of technological equipment, elements and complete systems which are in themselves suitable to create conditions for efficient farming, to reduce environmental load and to provide farmers with optimal return on their investment. Agricultural production has started to focus mainly on efficient crop production and machine operation. Due to this trend, machinery exploitation emerges as a secondary priority for agricultural enterprises. The underlying reason behind this shift is primarily the rise of machinery operation costs. Efficient machinery operation can provide farmers with a solution to reduce their expenditure and through better logistical organization they can obtain extra returns. On the leading edge of my research is to introduce, quantitatively underpin and to justify the application of precision technologies. Our fundamental research methods rely on scenarios and economic calculations.

     

  • Complex problem analysis of the Hungarian dairy farms
    93-100
    Views:
    203

    Hungarian dairy farms went through significant changes in past two decades. The most significant changes were caused by our accession to the European Union in 2004. In Hungary milk production remarkably declined after EU accession due to the decreasing level of support and decreasing milk prices. Size of our dairy herd has been practically reducing since the political transformation (1989); meanwhile the relative yields per cow have been continuously increasing. Relatively low prices, high production costs and tightening quality requirements ousted several producers – mainly small farms - from the market in past years. Feeding cost represents the highest rate in cost structure of production, but animal health expenditures and various losses are also significant. Applied technology of the Hungarian dairies lags behind theWestern-European competitors’; in addition they have handicaps in efficiency and product innovation. Moreover Hungarian milk and milk product consumption is about half of the Union average. In 2007 at the University of Debrecen the opportunities and the problems of this sector were discussed in the framework of a research and development project entitled “Project-generating based on sector-specific innovation”.At this workshop farmers, experts and advisers shared their ideas which were all gathered. The main objective of our paper is to provide useful information for the decision makers and the most important members of the sector. Using the practically successful ideas plus the ideas based on previous experience a new strategic concept was created. To reach the objective of this paper we collected, synthesized and analysed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the dairy farms and performed a SWOT analysis. On the basis of this SWOT analysis we set up a well organised problem hierarchy which would help to identify the main weaknesses of the sector. This analysis gives a great framework for the researches and it also gives a useful tool for the decision makers to improve the competitiveness of the Hungarian dairy sector.

  • Greener cement sector and potential climate strategy development between 2015-2030 (Hungarian case study)
    65-74
    Views:
    350

    Advancing the domestic industrial production towards a sustainable, resource-preserving direction can become an important pillar to support competitiveness in the European Union, as well as in Hungary. Reaching the de-carbonization goals for industrial production via lowering the production volume may result in less desirable macro-economic effects, so decisions which concern the industry require a lot of attention from the climate policy as well. In the case of the cement sector, economic actors have to be motivated to make energy-efficiency investments and technology developments, which also show promise in terms of business efficiency. In the more natural-resource-intensive branches of the industry, both innovations and technological developments will be required to reduce the amount of used non-renewable energy resources, keep it in the industrial cycle, and reduce environmental load. The importance of greener cement will be essential in the near future to reduce the sector’s CO2 emission levels. We need to identify more sector branches which relate to sustainability, which can aid the country in establishing long-term competitiveness that points towards the de-carbonization goals. The cost-efficiency aspects of this development process are the most tedious questions in today’s business planning.

    JEL classification: Q55

  • Agricultural outsourcing: A comparison between the Netherlands and Japan
    29-33
    Views:
    340

    Outsourcing may well be a tool for increasing the efficiency of Japanese agriculture. However, outsourcing is not frequently used by Japanese farmers in their day-to-day management. This has resulted in a weakly developed market for agricultural contracting services. In order to take a closer look at the reasons for making use of outsourcing, a comparative study was carried out between the agricultural contracting sector in Japan and that in the Netherlands, where agricultural outsourcing is a regular practice. In the Netherlands, especially small, diversified farms that lack sufficient labour tend to outsource agricultural work; in Japan, the situation is far less clear. Cultural factors possibly play an important role.

  • The influence of direct support under common agricultural policy on farm incomes in Poland
    33-37
    Views:
    141

    The main objective of the paper is the analysis of changes on the level of income of agricultural producers, which took place in Poland in the early years of the accession to the EU, as well as a determination of the scale of the impact of financial support under the Common Agricultural Policy on the farm income situation. Poland’s membership in the EU gives rural farms opportunities to improve their economic situation. Financial aid, mainly in the form of a direct payment, has been the main factor determining the economical status of rural farms, whilst the other income making factors, such as improved productivity and increased agricultural production have played a much smaller role. The increase in revenue has enabled farmers not only to increase current expenditures, but also to carry out modernization efforts, which will determine the future economic and structural situation of the Polish agricultural sector and its competitiveness. However, a strong differentiation in terms of the economic situation of rural farms according to their size and specialization in production was also noticed. As a result, there is a still large number of farms in which the revenues received by farmers are insufficient to assure them adequate life standard. Therefore such farms are not able to both develop and invest. Only economically strong rural farms with high production potential have such opportunities, meaning that EU support will never be able to fully minimize the effects of small-scale production or to offset the insufficient efficiency and productivity of production factors.

  • Economic Profitability of Sweet Pepper Production under Different Irrigation Levels and Polyethylene Mulch in a Plastic Greenhouse
    109-116
    Views:
    152

    Field experiment was conducted, during two successive seasons of 2014- 2015 and 2015- 2016, at Dokki protected agricultural site, Giza Governorate, Egypt, to study the profitability of different applied irrigation levels and polyethylene (PE) mulch on plant growth and yield of sweet pepper, (Capsicum annum L.) cv. Godion F1, under plastic house condition. Three irrigation levels (0.50, 0.75 and 1.00) of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), using drip irrigation system and three PE mulch treatments (transparent, black and control) were applied. Data revealed that black PE recorded the highest values of early and total fruit yield per plant during the two seasons. Increasing water level up to 1.00 (ETc) enhanced yield with different PE mulch treatments, while water use efficiency (WUE) decreased with increasing water level. However, Using 0.50 (ETc), with different PE mulches increased WUE compared to using 0.75 (ETc) or 1.00 (ETc). The economic assessment of costs and returns from different treatments were calculated. It was found that the average yield was higher in 1.00 ETc with black mulch. Gross margin per 540 m2 were analysed using yield data, price structures and production costs. The 1.00 (ETc) with black mulch had the highest gross margin which is USD 416.8 and USD 533 (1 USD= 9 Egyptian pound) for the first and second seasons, respectively. The benefit cost ratios (BCRs) per 540 m2 were analysed, and 1.00 (ETc) with black mulch had the highest BCR with 1.36 in the first season and 1.45 in the second season.

    JEL Classification: Q 01, Q 12, Q 19

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