AN ESTIMATION OF SUPPLY RESPONSE FOR BREAD WHEAT IN IRAQ FOR THE PERIOD 1991-2002

Abstract

Bread wheat is an important food crop on the world level. The main problem in Iraq is the deficit in wheat production.The objective of this study was to estimate the supply response function in Iraq for the period. 1991-2002 to determine the most effective factors in supply. This work has two functions , one for rainfed area and the other for irrigated area.The important factors affecting the supply response of rainfed area were , the cultivated area with wheat for the previous year , absolute price of wheat for previous year , absolute price of barley for previous year , and precipitation and production risk . On the other side the important factors affecting the supply response of irrigated area were , the cultivated area with wheat for the previous year , wheat price , barley price as a competitive crop for previous year , irrigation water and production risk . The results showed that the estimated own price elasticity of wheat in the short run was 0.0566 and for the long run was 0.176 in irrigated area , and short run elasticity was 0.665 and long run elasticity was 1.095 in rain fed area . The cross elasticities were -0.0545 and -0.169 -for short and long run in irrigated area and -0.0233 and 0.038 for short and long run for rain fed area ,respectively. The main conclusions are the producer response to price changes were a mixture of prices and government policy. Also the price elasticity of wheat in rain fed area more than that in irrigated area which indicates the importance of the first region . Also there were some non price factors which affected in supply response of wheat more than the price factors