THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE OF FISH PRODUCTION IN IRAQ

Fish production is considered an important part of people's food in different parts of the world. It is also considered an important component of the economies of many countries in the world including Arab countries. Some of these countries are characterized by their efficient production and consequently their comparative advantage on the world scale. The aim of this study is to measure protection coefficients and the comparative advantage of fish production in Iraq. It also aimed at specifying the nature of intervention policy in fish production in Iraq by using policy analysis matrix. Technique through which the efficiency and competitiveness of domestic fish production on world level can be determined. By estimation of policy analysis matrix elements, revenue transfers I, tradable input transfers J, factors transfers K, were calculated which were13724thousand dinars/hectare,-2636 thousand dinars/hectare,-80 thousand dinars/hectare, consecutively. Net transfer L, was about 16440 thousand dinars /hectare, which could be explained that government intervention was in favor of fish producers in short run, the results also showed that domestic producer achieved private profitability by investing in fish projects according to the value of private profitability (D) which was about 7305.6 thousand dinars /hectare in comparison with social profitability (H) which appeared with negative value of about 9136 thousand dinars / hectare. In addition Iraq hasn't a comparative advantage in fish production in comparison with the rest of the world as the value of domestic resource cost (DRC) appeared with negative value of -0.80 in spite of the support which the domestic producer received whether for the product or the subsidies for tradable inputs according to the values of NPCI and producer subsidy ratio which were about 0.81 and %180 respectively. The study arrived at some suggestion according to conclusion.