A test of agricultural labour market efficiency in the Gezira scheme, Sudan: a production function approach

This study is concerned with testing the efficiency of the rural labour market in the Gezira scheme. One hundred and fifty respondents were randomly selected through a field survey during the 2003?2004 season. A Cobb-Douglas production function was fitted to the data. The results indicated that labour markets in Gezira do not behave as predicted by the neoclassical theory. Labour allocations are thus made on the basis of shadow wages rather than market prices.

Keywords: labour market efficiency, shadow wages, production functions, agricultural labour markets, Sudan, rural labour markets, labour allocations, market prices