Maize is the one of the most important crops in Iraq, being both the major feed grain for livestock and the primary staple food crop for the majority of the Iraq population. Furthermore, the maize industry contributes substantially to employment, manufacturing, foreign exchange and food security. The importance of maize in contributing to national growth is critical; this makes it meaningful to investigate the nature of maize farmers’ production decisions. This study quantifies the supply response of maize farmers to price and non-price factors in Iraq using econometric techniques. The non-price factors considered in this study are land usage, technology, rainfall, production lagged one year and siege. A modified Nerlovian partial adjustment model was applied on historical time series data spanning from 1986-2015 to estimate the supply response of maize in Iraq. To deal with the expected problems associated with time series data the study adopted several diagnostic tests. Results indicate a short-run supply elasticity and a long-run supply elasticity are inelastic, signifying that maize farmers are less sensitive to price changes. The results confirm that price factors seem to have the same effect on maize supply in Iraq. These findings coincide with those obtained in supply response studies for field crops conducted in other developing Iraq countries. The study also showed that non-price factors such as, rainfall, production lagged one year, technology and land usage have a positive impact on maize production. Given the findings, the study recommends policies that focus more on non-price factors as a means of stabilising maize production. The study also recommends that Industry stakeholders and policymakers should find means to integrate the significant relationships between non-price factors and production output into future decisions and marketing policies to safeguard a healthy, growing and sustainable maize industry in Iraq.
