ECONOMIC STUDY FOR ONION AND GARLIC PRODUCTION IN EGYPT

Onion and Garlic are a popular food and they have a significant contributor to good health. The study uses the Malmquist index technique to measure the efficiency change of onion and garlic production in Egypt during 1995-2019. In the studied period, the mean of onion production is 1572.39 thousand ton and the mean of garlic production is 240.31 thousand ton. The minimum value of onion production (386.345 thousand ton) and garlic production (119.172 thousand ton) in 1995, while the maximum value of onion production (3077.316 thousand ton) and garlic production (363.46 thousand ton) in 2019. Gharbia governorate has the highest production and the largest area of onion, while Beni Suef governorate has the highest production and the largest area of Garlic, in 2019. Ismailia governorate has the lowest production and the lowest area of onion and Garlic in 2019. The results indicate growth in efficiency for onion production and some declining in efficiency for garlic production. The study recommends increasing the area of onion and garlic production.


INTRODUCTION
Onions, garlic, leeks, and shallots are all members of the Allium family.The two basic types of onions are bulbforming onions, which produce a bulb in one year, and perennial onions, which produce clusters of small onions that can be harvested and replanted for the next crop.The bulb-forming onions include storage onions and fresh or sweet onions.
Perennial onions include bunching or multiplier onions, Egyptian onions, shallots, and potato onions.Egyptian onions are the most cold hardy of all onions.They are not as tender and tasty as scallions or bulb onions, and are most useful in mid-winter when other onions are out of season (Musgrove and Smith, 2010).Garlic has proven itself as a popular food and nutrition item, and is gaining scientific credibility as a significant contributor to good health.One niche market that has grown tremendously is garlic.The strong surge in use likely reflects several factors, such as the rising popularity of ethnic foods and restaurants; persistent health messages circulating in the press about garlic; demand from the health supplements industry; and the neverending quest by consumers for new taste experiences.Used primarily in cooking to flavor a wide variety of foods, garlic provides vitamin C, potassium, phosphorous, selenium, several amino acids, and a variety of sulfur compounds, including allicin (FAO, 2007).This study aims to estimate the efficiency of onion and garlic production in Egypt during 1995-2019.

METHODOLOGY
The Malmquist index was first introduced by Caves, Christensen and Diewert (1982).They defined the TFP index using Malmquist input and output distance functions, and thus the resulting index came to be known as the Malmquist index (Chaudhary, 2012).Färe et al (1994) A value of efficiency change equal to one implies there has been no change in efficiency across the two time periods t and t+1, greater than one implies a growth in efficiency and a value less than one is interpreted as deterioration in efficiency.

DATA
The data that employed for this study obtained from FAOSTAT and MALR, Egypt.The panel data represents the production and area of onion and garlic in Egypt during 1995-2019.To measure the efficiency of onion and garlic production in Egypt between period t and period t+1, the study apply Malmquist index.
Table (1) shows the production, area, and yield of onion in Egypt (1995Egypt ( -2019)).The mean of this period for production is 1572.39thousand ton, for area is 47.82 thousand hectare, and for yield is 30.96ton/hectare.Table (2) shows the production, area, and yield of garlic in Egypt (1995Egypt ( -2019)).The mean of production, area, and yield is 240.31 thousand ton, 10.44 thousand hectare, and 23.11 ton/hectare, respectively.
Table (3) shows the production, area, and yield of onion in the main governorates in Egypt (1995Egypt ( -2019)).In 2019, Gharbia governorate has the highest production (751.46 thousand ton) and the largest area (41.58 thousand feddan), while Ismailia governorate has the lowest production (4.54 thousand ton) and the lowest area (0.45 thousand feddan).
Table (4) shows the production, area, and yield of garlic in the main governorates in Egypt (1995Egypt ( -2019)).In 2019, Beni Suef governorate has the highest production (132.82thousand ton) and the largest area (12.87 thousand feddan), while Ismailia governorate has the lowest production (0.13 thousand ton) and the lowest area (0.02 thousand feddan).

RESULTS
Table (5) shows the efficiency change for onion and garlic production in Egypt during the time period 1995-2019.
During 1995-2019, the mean of efficiency change for onion is greater than one (1.002), which implies a growth in efficiency during this period, while the mean of efficiency change for garlic less than one (0.988), which implies some declining in efficiency during this period.

CONCLUSION
Onion and garlic have a significant contributor to good health.The study aims to estimate the efficiency of onion and garlic production in Egypt during 1995-2019.The study used Malmquist index technique.During 1995-2019, the mean of production for onion and garlic is 1572.39thousand ton and 240.31 thousand ton, respectively.The results indicate growth in efficiency for onion production and some declining in efficiency for garlic production.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The study recommends increasing the area of onion and garlic production; increasing the research with the purpose of taking advantage of genetic improvements, which should enable the introduction of new varieties with higher productivity; improve and increase the technology level of onion and garlic production; increase the training of labors.