This study estimates and compares technical efficiency levels among beekeeping projects with various production capacities using a sample drawn from Fayoum Governorate in Egypt. The study also compares among beekeeping’s most important economic indicators, estimates the optimum production amount, and investigates why technical efficiency in Egyptian beekeeping is declining. We conclude that the average cost to produce one ton of honey decreases when production capacity increases. Furthermore, the average total, net return, and return on investment of one Egyptian pound increases when production capacity increases. Moreover, the results of a stochastic frontier production function indicate an increased return to scale. Finally, the results of maximum likelihood estimation show that technical inefficiency helps explain the deviation of actual from optimal production amounts.

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The main objective of this research was to estimate the demand function for imports of apples, oranges, and bananas to Saudi Arabia, as these are the most important fruits in the Saudi diet. Using annual data for imports of oranges, apples, and bananas to the Kingdom during the period 1980-2015, an almost ideal demand system model was utilized to identify the competitive relationships between the main fruits(apples, oranges, and bananas). The coefficients of the model were estimated using the seemingly unrelated regression and iterative-seemingly unrelated regression methods, with addition, homogeneity, and symmetry conditions imposed so that the estimated models conform to demand theory and satisfy the Slutsky condition. The elasticities of price, cross-sectional, and expenditure demand for each commodity were estimated. The results found that the almost ideal demand system for apples, oranges, and bananas fulfills the addition requirement. In addition, the demand equations for the Kingdom's imports of these fruits are homogenous at zero-grade, and it was found that all the price elasticities (self and cross) and the elasticity of expenditure are consistent with economic theory.