Zoning of Iranian Provinces Based on Support for Wheat Producers in Economic, Social and Cultural Development Programs

The support policies implemented by the government for wheat crop, which is a strategic crop in Iran's agricultural sector and has different distributional effects in the provinces of the country, are of great importance. In this study, while calculating the indicators of market price support (MPS), budget payments (BP) and producer support estimate (PSE) of wheat in the period of the Third to Fifth Economic, Social and Cultural Development Programs of Iran, their correlations with yield per unit area of dryland and irrigated wheat production were investigated and then, for planning and policy making, the provinces were classified into homogeneous clusters by K-means algorithm. According to the results, despite the implementation of the same policies across the country, the amount of market and budget support and total support to producers varies due to differences in climate and producers' behavior in input consumption, production technology, productivity, comparative advantages and distance from customs, so that wheat farmers in lower productivity provinces received more support per kg. Also, pricing policies did not supported producers in most years, but the PSE index showed that farmers of all clusters were supported in the three development programs by 882, 1549 and 1200 IR rials/kg, respectively. Contrary to BP, MPS and PSE indicators in most provinces had positive and significant relationships with irrigated wheat yields. Finally, considering the differences in clusters, it was suggested that for higher productivity clusters, various pricing and budget policy packages with higher support coverage levels should be designed in accordance with the optimal consumption pattern of top farmers' inputs; in addition, by changing the pattern of policies from price support to budget support, on the one hand, the price of products will be kept close to the global price and on the other hand, the direct intervention of the government in the product market will be avoided.