Determining the optimal pattern for production and import of wheat in Iran: Application of goal programming

The aim of the present study is to determine an economic optimal of wheat production and import, by considering the existing risk conditions in Iran. For this purpose, the Goal Programming model was used in order to study several goals simultaneously. The goals considered in this research include the goals of profit, production risk and price risk. The data required for this study was collected from the Statistics Center of Iran, Ministry of Jihad Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2020 and GAMS software was used to estimate the results. The results of the study showed by considering all the objectives, for Irrigated wheat, the provinces of Khuzestan, Fars, East and West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Khorsan Razavi and North, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Golestan, Lorestan, Hamedan, Ilam, Bushehr, Isfahan, Markazi and Sistan and Baluchestan and for dryland wheat, the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Ardabil, Zanjan, Khorasan Razavi, Golestan were considered as producers. Based on the results, Khorasan Razavi and Kurdistan provinces with cultivated area equivalent to 886371.5 and 509971.3 had the highest cultivated area for irrigated wheat and rainfed wheat, respectively. Also, according to the results, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany entered in the final model as importers of wheat. According to the results of the study, in order to achieve self-sufficiency, it is recommended that policy makers provide incentives for reallocation of wheat in these provinces. According to the results of the study, in order to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency and complete elimination of imports based on the desired perspective of the country, it may be recommended that producers and policy makers move towards the provinces included in the model. Also, considering the impact of risk in decision making, the development of risk management tools is suggested.