Explaining Sustainable Development Strategies for Agricultural Entrepreneurship Activities in Kermanshah Province, Iran

Abstract

The high capacity of the agricultural sector in Kermanshah Province needs more attention for some reasons including weather and climate conditions, access to fertile lands, and ready-made labor force. The current research seeks to achieve a major strategy for the development of entrepreneurship activities in the agricultural sector of Kermanshah Province. To reach end a mixed research method was used in which the content analysis and survey methods were used in the qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. The content analysis and “Analysis of Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied by using Expert Choice software for data analysis. In the quantitative part, the study population was comprised of agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province, of which 27 participated in semi-structured interviews. In the quantitative part, a pairwise comparison questionnaire was administered to 10 entrepreneurs who were entrepreneurship experts. Based on the results obtained from the current research, the development strategy, namely “regional market development, paving the way for the development of entrepreneurial companies, and presentation of products fabricated by agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province in regional, national, and international exhibitions”, was chosen as the best conservative strategy with the final priority of 0.347. In addition, another strategy, i.e. “the formulation of policies and establishment of appropriate support platforms for agricultural entrepreneurs by the state and organizations, such as subsidizing producers and providing facilities to entrepreneurs to facilitate access to suitable land for their activities”, with the final priority of 0.270% was chosen as the alternative strategy for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Kermanshah province.