ESTIMATION OF OPTIMUM SIZE FOR MILLET PRODUCTION IN BAGHDAD PROVINCE

Abstract

In spite of economic importance of millet as it is cultivated for its seeds and as a forage crop in most of dry regions in the world, yet the production of the crop as a forage crop is very limited in Iraq. The cultivated area on Iraq level is very low due to its high production costs, low revenue, inability to achieve the suitable production size close to optimum size in addition to the competition of imported foreign product in domestic markets. The aim of this research is to estimate the optimum size for the crop through the estimation of short term total cost for the season 2010. This was achieved through the choice of random sample of millet farmers in Baghdad province from which data were collected through a questionnaire. The results showed that the fixed costs consist about 74% of total costs for the crop in the sample while the variable costs consist about 26% of total costs. The optimum size of millet production which minimizes costs was 26 tons while the optimum size which maximizes profits was about 49 tons and the average product for sample was about 4 tons with statistical interval between 0.5 – 9 tons