JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH
Year:2009 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:11

Caviar is the most important exported good in Iranian fishery sector.In this paper, first, the supply equation of caviar export is estimated during 1992-2007 in order to recognize the effective factors on caviar export including catch of sturgeon, caviar world price and foreign exchange rate.Secondly, instability in export income is calculated which proves dramatic fluctuations over the period. Lastly, performance of caviar export in Iran is compared to their international rivals by using constant market share model.Statistics are collected from Iran's Central Bank, Provincial Fishery Office and Trade Organization. Results demonstrate that income instability caused mainly from supply side particularly decline in catch of sturgeon. Results also showed that world trade effect had the greatest impact on export decline. More government's control, monitoring and investment in breeding farmed sturgeon are recommended to improve export of caviar.

In this paper, effects of agricultural risk management policies on farmers' aversion to risk as well as their income distribution were discussed.Then, by using the Gini coefficient, effects of current agricultural insurance policies on farmers' income distribution were evaluated. Also, agricultural crop insurance demand function and farmers' aversion toward risk were estimated by using the Goodwin model and ELCE method, respectively.Data were collected by interview with 170 farmers in Fasa region of Fars province. The sample was selected by using a stratified random sampling method. Results of the study revealed that, agricultural crop insurance had positive effect on income distribution and caused farmers degree of risk aversion to be reduced. Also, area under wheat cultivation, ratio of indemnity payment to insurance premium, farmers' age, and level of education, experience and land ownership had positive effect on demand for agricultural insurance.

Rice is an important cereal from production point of view in Iran and Mazandaran province is a major region in production of rice. The main objective of this study is determining of the comparative advantage of various rice species .Crop price and production costs data were obtained from Agricultural Ministry, Statistical Center of Iran and FAO. Domestic Resources Cost (DRC) index was used for determining the comparative advantage of rice species in Mazandaran Province from 1982 to 2007 and effective factors on this indicator were calculated using logarithmic function and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) method. According to the results, long grain and high quality rice from 1998 to 2007, long grain high yield rice and average grain high quality rice from 2000 to 2007 provied and short grain rice in 1999 and during 2001 to 2007, had resived comparative advantage. Yield per hectare and foreign exchange rate were the most effect factor in comparative advantage of high quality long grain, high yield long grain and high quality medium grain of rice. Moreover, shadow cost of non tradable inputs had the most effect on short grain of rice. Domestic resource cost trend showed that government policy had positive effect on comparative advantage of rice species in Mazandaran Province.

In addressing water crisis, most countries are focusing on the management of water demand instead of water supply. In dry and semi-dry areas of Iran such as Fars province, water is an important factor in economic development and major input in agricultural production. The purpose of this study is to assess impacts of different policies for decreasing of applied water for irrigation and increasing water price on cropping patterns. Data were gathered from a stratified random sample by personal interviews of Aspas and Bakan's farmers in Eghlid region which used both surface and ground water. PMP model and CES production function was applied for both areas. The findings showed that the scenarios of 10% decrease in applied water and doubling of irrigation water price did not significantly change optimal cropping pattern compared with the base year cropping.

In this study, technical efficiencies of wheat production in 78 towns of Isfahan, Tehran, Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Kerman, Ghom and Markazi Provinces have been determined during 2001-2005. For this purpose, Tran slog production function was selected as the optimum functional form for estimation of technical efficiency measured using stochastic frontier method. Results showed that farmers mean technical efficiencies in townships studied was 88 percent with minimum of 59 percent and maximum of 97 percent. Also, the results showed that Isfahan province with 91.8 percent and Kerman with 76.8 percent had highest and lowest technical efficiencies in wheat production, respectively.

In this study impacts of government intervention on supply, yield and cropping area of wheat was investigated using nominal protection rate. The data set applied in the study was obtained from different sources such Ministry of Statistical Yearbook and FAO website for period of 1353-1384. After testing data stationary and calculating the nominal protection rate, the impact of supporting policies was studied using ARDL approach and Nerlove model. The results of the study showed that nominal protection rate was negative during the study period, indicating that not only wheat producers were implicitly taxed. The negative support tends to decrease slowly during the period. Wheat real price did not show considerable impact on wheat supply in the short run. While in the long run wheat real price, technological change and cropping area revealed a positive impact on wheat supply. The results also showed that while nominal protection rate had no impact on cropping area, it is affected by lagged cropping area.

After Wheat and Barley, Corn is the third important crop in the word and Iran, corn is used mainly for feeding live stocks. In this study comparative advantage of corn in comparison with other competiting crops was investigated applying Linear Programming to 2004-2005 data in arid and Semi-arid of fars province. Results showed corn has comparative advantage in Fars province except in Neyriz. In addition, comparing optimum cultivation pattern resulted from Linear programming models with crops rating based on comparative advantage indices indicated that restriction in availability of resources, variable cost of tradable and nontradable inputs and yield will lead in shifting comparative advantage from one crop to another. Factors such as supporting policies, rotation, and resource constraint might also have effect on comparative advantage of crops and optimum cropping pattern.

City's promenades role in sightseeing and refreshing individuals is considerable. Present study estimated mean WTP of visitors of Mohtasham Park by using Heckman two stage approaches in order to separate effective parameters of their winingness to pay. Needed data were obtained by personal intervie through filling up questionnaires. 81 percents of visitors was ready pay for the recreational use of the park. Mean Willingness to pay for each visitor per year was 4260 Rials. Results showed that total recreational value of Mohtasham Park was more than 856 Million Rials.