ESTIMATION FOOD GAP VOLUME OF WHEAT CROP IN IRAQ

Abstract

The study included both descriptive and quantitive analysis for the reality of production and consumption for the wheat crop in Iraq during the period 1980-2006 in addition to its future exceptions till the year 2015. Results of analysis have revealed that yearly increase in consumed quantities of wheat exceeds the yearly increase of produced quantities. This explains that the food gap is large and reached critical levels due to many factors like the high rates in population growth and the improved levels of income and the decrease of areas of land cultivated as well as the type of consumption from this crop. Therefore the imbalanced distribution of economic resources specialized for producing wheat crop. The gap started to become large during time and this needed to limit and estimate the most important factors which effect production increase to the level reaching the achieved increase of population in order to avoid the negative effects of food gap and to prevent this gap not to be expanded . The study reached that future expectation to produce wheat crop in increased slowly and dose not suit with the expected increases of population numbers. The study also ended with the necessity to encourage local investment in cultivating wheat and ton depend upon agricultural policies which share in elevating the largest amount of economic efficiency in producing wheat crop in Iraq.