Evaluation and Analysis of Comparative Advantages, Competitiveness and the Effects of Supportive Policies on Selected Products of Afghanistan's Economic-Agricultural Zones

Agricultural sector is the foundational basis of Afghanistan's economic growth and development, and the strategic sector in providing food and livelihood to its growing population. Paying attention to the regional comparative and competitive advantages of the products of this sector is one of the important aspects of efficient allocation of limited resources. It is also necessary for the planning and policy-making of production and trade. Therefore, the present study examines the comparative and competitive advantages and effects of national and international Supportive policies of selected products in each economic-agricultural zone, including irrigated and rainfed wheat, corn, rice, cotton, potato, saffron, and Poppy in the 2018-2019 crop year. To achieve this goal, two types of indicators Cost base (under Policy Analysis Matrix) and physical base (efficiency, scale, and collective advantages) were used to determine the advantage, as well as supportive and competitiveness indicators, and based on them, products were prioritized. The results show that despite the support of farmers in the tradable inputs sector, the production system is unsupported and is accompanied by taxation. Lack of attention to comparative and competitive indicators and their low level needs the implementation of appropriate supportive policies to promote the production and export of products with comparative and competitive advantages and necessary actions to increase the yield and reduce production costs for strategic products without comparative advantage.