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Abstract
After the war with Iraq which ended in 1988, Iran implemented
several agricultural support policies based on Five-Year
National Development Plans. The main objective of these plans
in the agriculture sector was to make the agricultural economy
more market-oriented and to encourage sustainable agriculture.
This paper investigates the extent to which Iran's government
has been able to achieve this objective in the case of wheat. For
this purpose, Producer Support Estimate (PSE) and Consumer
Support Estimate (CSE) indicators for Iranian wheat are calculated
and discussed. Generally, producers’ and consumers’ support is
achieved chiefly by distorting market prices. As will be shown,
from 1989 to 2006, the PSE increased about 20 times (in real
prices), while the level of production increased 1.69 times.
However, the PSE had no significant causal relationship with
either wheat yield or its area under cultivation. With respect to
consumers’ support, this was found to be positive for Iranian
wheat, a result that is uncommon for most developed and developing
countries. Recent agricultural policies in Iran do not
appear to encourage international competitiveness for wheat
and are making the wheat economy more dependent on support
prices. We suggest that policy makers reconsider the method of
subsidization and the pricing system, at least in the case of
wheat. JEL:Q18