RAOUL E. NASR
Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science & Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid (22110) Jordan
NASR, RAOUL E., 2004. Efficient use of resources in tomato farming in the Jordan valley. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 10: 729-733
Tomato production is one of the most important activities in the Jordan Rift Valley. Despite the fact that Jordan's vegetables production has improved, the yields are still low, the production costs are high, and sometimes the quality is not the best. Issues of environmental safety, excessive usage of chemical inputs in the agricultural production system, have been at the forefront of discussions on input usage. Limited information exists, however, on the current effective usage of inputs within the context of modern agricultural production systems. This article aims to study the degree to which inputs are being used efficiently on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) farms in the Jordan Valley. Nonparametric linear programming approach is used to specify the reference technology constructed from the observed input and output data of the farms in the sample. Results indicate that while maintaining the same level of output, inputs on average could have been reduced to half of their current levels.