Abstract
ABSTRACT The theoretical contributions in many the economic literature on determinants of agricultural growth stated that agricultural sector is the main source of providing food and foreign currency in addition to being a market for marketing agricultural goods. Despite the importance of such sector, the agricultural growth is still facing a number of determinants that are related to the historical development of economic thought. The importance of the study lies in observing food deficiency suffered by Iraq as food production is not enough for population needs that are increasing in comparison with food production. The study aims at estimating and analyzing the main determinants that vary in their effects on the growth of agricultural production for the period 1980- 2005 depending on the hypothesis that agriculture in Iraq is facing some factors that limit its growth. To select the study hypothesis, some variables, including agricultural work, invested capital in agriculture, mechanical technology, chemical technology and the planted areas, are used as dependent variables that represented the main determinants while values of agricultural production are used as dependent variable. A standard model with various forms and multi linear regression style has been used for the purpose of estimation and analysis. The main conclusions drawn are: Iraqi agriculture is subject to certain determinant that variously affect and limit its growth, thus reducing agricultural production. Empirical results showed the significance of (invested capital in agriculture, mechanical technology, chemical technology and planted areas). These variables have positively increased agricultural product. Agricultural work was not significant in the estimated model. .
