Investigation of competitiveness and support from production of Cotton and Rice in Golestan province

Production of any commodity should be profitable not only for producers but also for the country as a whole. In other words, production cost of a commodity should be less than income earnedfrom its export or cost of import of that commodity. If these conditions fulfilled one can say that the country enjoys social profitability and comparative advantage in production of commodity under consideration.This study used Policy Analyses Matrix (PAM) and Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) for calculating the comparative advantage. To investigate support policies of rice and cotton in Golestan province indices of policy analysis matrix (PAM) has been used. Results of this research shows diesirable condition of comparative advantage and ability of rice producers and unirrigated cotton in Golestan province. From the view point of comparative advantage, greatest comparative advantage is belonged to high-yield medium grain rice (DRC=. 67), qualified medium grain rice (DRC=.72), unirrigated cotton (DRC=.72), high-yield long grain rice (DRC=.73), qualified long grain rice (DRC=.75), respectively. Irrigated cotton don’t have comparative advantage (DRC=1.61). As presented in this research work, producers of irrigated cotton and rice receive income and input subsidies. While aggregate domestic policy tells us stories of no government support in term of income and inputs in respects to unirrigated cotton.